(CHICAGO), September 24, 2025—The Paulson Institute today released an interim update to the 2020 Financing Nature report by the Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and Cornell, warning that the global biodiversity financing gap has grown from $711 billion in 2020 to $942 billion annually. According to the report, despite rising awareness of nature’s biodiversity loss, nature is vanishing at unprecedented rates: up to one-half of the planet’s species face extinction by the middle of this century.
“Biodiversity loss presents profound risks to human prosperity and well-being,” said Henry M. Paulson, Jr., former US Treasury Secretary and Chairman of the Paulson Institute. “The good news is that we are learning what works. Over the last five years, we’ve made significant progress developing innovative finance mechanisms and programs for advancing nature conservation. What is missing in the debate is not knowledge, it’s leadership and government action.”
The report was announced at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly and ahead of COP30 in the Amazon, with a major recommendation to integrate climate and biodiversity protection rather than pursuing them in silos, which is leading to needless destruction of nature.
The interim report highlights severe declines in biodiversity since the Financing Nature report was released in 2020. Most notably:
- 48% of species are declining.
- Vertebrate populations have fallen by an average of 73% since 1970.
- If we stay on this trajectory, we could lose up to half of all species by the middle of the 21st century.
- North America has lost over half of its grasslands—the most imperiled ecosystem.
Nature’s degradation poses a significant threat to the economy, from sectors ranging from agriculture to tourism to health.
- Over half of the global GDP, equivalent to an estimated $58T, is moderately or highly dependent upon nature.
- Losing pollinators could cause hundreds of billions in crop failures.
- The destruction of mangroves will exacerbate the impact of storms and flooding, leading to annual property damages exceeding $80 billion.
- It accelerates the risk of famine, resulting in massive increases in migration and social unrest, which pose huge hardships to humanity and a threat to global stability.
The report warns that climate and biodiversity agendas are often pursued in isolation, with too many climate solutions needlessly imperiling nature, and inadequate leadership and siloed agendas deepening the crisis.
According to the report, many climate solutions, when implemented without safeguards, have harmed ecosystems. For example, wind and solar infrastructure can require up to 12 times more land than fossil fuels. Transmission corridors carve through habitats, sprawling installations imperil ecosystems, and the rush for critical minerals without proper planning to mitigate harm to nature needlessly degrades some of the most ecologically vulnerable places on Earth.
On the positive side, the report underscores that while the gap is daunting, it is quite feasible to make meaningful progress with smart policy and innovative financial mechanisms.
- Half the financing gap can be closed by reforming harmful subsidies to farming, fisheries, and forestry.
- There is a big opportunity to scale programs and policies that we know work because they have been successfully implemented by NGOs, local governments, and the private sector.
“The picture is sobering, but there is a clear pathway for business and finance to shift from being part of the problem to becoming a critical part of the solution,” Paulson said.
Deborah Lehr, Vice-Chairman and Executive Director of the Paulson Institute, added. “Aligning climate finance with biodiversity protection is less about technical feasibility than about political will. Governments must set the rules, and the private sector must respond by scaling solutions. Together, we can help protect the natural ecosystems on which the health of our planet depends.”
Learn more, and read the report.
###
About the Paulson Institute
The Paulson Institute is a non-partisan, independent “think and do tank” dedicated to fostering global relationships that advance economic prosperity, promote sustainable growth, and maintain global order in a rapidly evolving world.
Media Contact:
Kristin Gomez, Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives
kgomez@paulsoninstitute.org