Transformative Projects

Global temperatures are increasing, and the climate is warming. When addressing climate change, the focus has typically been on mitigating its effects by reducing emissions, often not giving enough attention to climate adaptation efforts. Mitigation addresses the long-term impacts, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation is about anticipating and responding to the immediate consequences of climate change. In addressing these adaptation challenges, nature has emerged as a valuable ally.

Lombard Odier sees nature as the foundation and true engine of our economy, and as an asset class in its own right. In light of this, four students of the Master’s degree in Sustainable Management and Technology worked with Lombard Odier to identify nature-based investment opportunities in climate adaptation to support a nature-positive economy.

This partnership resulted in a research project that produced a methodology for evaluating and assessing both the adaptation benefits and the monetization of the ecosystem services of nature. This transformative project enhances the knowledge, research, and comparative tools for private investors to effectively monetize adaptation efforts.

The assessment methodology proposed, divided into scope, economic relevance, impact, and risks, is applied to eight different nature-based solutions. The framework was developed by drawing inspiration from existing methodologies and three global standards: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was then tailored to many evaluation criteria essential for demonstrating the investment potential in a broad range of nature ecosystem restoration and creation projects. Successful examples discussed in the paper, like Ghana’s agroforestry projects or Kenya’s Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), show the economic benefits of restoring ecosystems. Marine and coastal solutions, though typically less funded and researched than forestry and agricultural projects, have demonstrated economic profitability despite their high implementation costs.

Overall, this research emphasizes the potential of nature-based solutions as a valuable investment for climate change adaptation, offering a pathway to address the financial gap in this field.

Investing in nature, valuing it for its regenerative power rather than for exploitation, is crucial for meeting climate targets and maximizing economic value.

Students: Lorenzo Parma, Monica Sanjuan Roman, Catherine Bahou, Siméon Migeotte

Company’s supervisor: Thomas Hohne-Sparborth

Academic supervisors: Edoardo Chiarotti, Florence Hugard

Transformative Projects’ Lead: Samuel Wicki