Global experts call on G20 to address impacts of nature loss on the global economy

On the eve of World Environment Day, 49 leading academics and experts are sending an open letter to the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, urging them to implement measures to address nature loss in the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap. 

As the Working Group meets next week in South Africa, experts warn that the current economic and financial systems are driving ecosystem and climate breakdown toward irreversible tipping points. G20 environment ministers have similarly highlighted how nature loss poses increasing risks to economic and financial stability.

With over half of global GDP ($44 trillion) moderately or highly dependent on nature and the entire economy ultimately reliant on it, the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risks Report ranks nature loss, alongside climate change, among the top four global risks facing business over the next decade. The global costs of unsustainable practices in food, land, and ocean systems are estimated at $12 trillion—and these costs continue to rise. 

Yet governments continue to fuel this crisis by subsidising activities that harm nature — to the tune of an estimated staggering $4 to $6 trillion each year. As noted in the letter, taxpayer money should not be used to fund the destruction of nature; incentives should be directed instead toward protecting the vital ecosystems like rainforests and oceans that we all depend upon. 

In response to this crisis, WWF and a high-level group of technical experts released the Global Nature Positive Economy Roadmap in 2024. This roadmap discusses the reforms needed to redirect  financial flows and reshape the global economy to support nature-positive outcomes. The Roadmap is modelled after the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap, but focuses on integrating nature into economic and financial decision making. 

The G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap has established the finance sector’s role in driving climate action. In their open letter, experts now urge the G20 to build on this foundation by integrating nature also into the implementation of the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap. 

South Africa’s G20 Presidency is key to advancing this agenda; megadiverse South Africa has committed to accelerating climate action, debt sustainability, and a just energy transition. To achieve this, it must address nature loss alongside climate change, as the two are inextricably linked, and mutually reinforcing. 

This will be crucial for building the resilience of countries worldwide against the economic and social impacts of nature loss—such as floods, diseases, food price fluctuations, and supply chain disruptions. It is also key to achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework, which 196 Governments have signed up to, committing signatories to align public and private financial flows with achieving biodiversity goals.

Professor Paula Harrison, Principal Natural Capital Scientist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology; Co-Chair, IPBES Nexus Assessment, said: “Nature loss and climate change interact and compound one another, so it is vital that we tackle these crises together. Science-based tools now exist to track nature loss, assess risks, and unlock opportunities for a nature-positive economy. The G20 must ensure frameworks addressing both nature loss and climate change are adopted and embedded across public policy and financial systems.” 

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, COP27; UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Development Agenda, said: “Developing countries face the twin pressures of climate vulnerability and biodiversity loss, while also needing to prioritise development. Without systemic reform of global financial rules, many countries will remain trapped in unsustainable cycles. The G20 must ensure that capital flows to the countries that need it most, to support the just transition to a sustainable economy, without adding to debt burdens or inequality.”

Karen Ellis, Chief Economist, WWF-UK, said: “The transition to a nature positive economy will act as a catalyst for investment, innovation, improved resilience and productivity.  So it is not a case of choosing between nature and growth – it is about protecting the very foundation of our economy and ongoing prosperity. The G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group should recognise this as an economic imperative and embed it into their work to build the resilience and sustainability of the global financial system.”