Canada has a golden opportunity to unlock the economic power of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS). There are substantial risks to not acting, and major benefits if communities, sectors and governments take urgent action to scale investments in these solutions.
By better protecting, managing and restoring nature, NCS are one of our best ways to immediately reduce emissions effectively, inclusively and competitively. These solutions include a variety of landscape-specific actions that can reduce or avoid emissions, such as protecting wetlands at risk of conversion, better managing agricultural lands and restoring forests. However, what has been severely underestimated is how NCS can yield significant economic benefits.
Natural Climate Solutions promise economic benefits that are often undervalued, unaccounted for and uncompensated. This results in suppressing investments and leaving money on the table. Canada is missing out, but it is not too late. Compelling business cases that capture the full suite of benefits of NCS can be created to seize this economic opportunity and attract investment that scales and sustains these solutions and their positive outcomes.
Canadians strongly support investments in NCS. People care about nature, and they care about the economy. It is time to connect the dots and broaden the under- standing that investing in nature is good for the economy, addressing multiple concerns at once. Orienting dollars towards investment-ready hotspot regions would help seize opportunities that are ready now.
This new report, Unlocking the Economic Power of Natural Climate Solutions, connects the dots between nature, climate action and economic benefit. The report illustrates how NCS offer a major economic opportunity, sheds light on several investment-ready hotspots and outlines key actions that will unlock this economic power for Canada.