The hidden Achilles heel of achieving investment readiness for nature-based solutions

Stephanie Walker • 26 March 2021

Amidst the excitement at the opportunity presented by natural capital investment and the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF), is the daunting prospect of actually getting nature-based solutions to the point of investment readiness.

How will you do it? What skills are needed and who needs to be involved? How will you create the financial and environmental returns in a reasonable time frame to satisfy investors and your own aims? How will you demonstrate the environmental benefits? There are scant examples to learn from – true innovation and brave hearts are required.


As you plan for how to make your project investment ready, you will no doubt be lining up the very best and most creative environmental experts, project managers and specialist financiers that you can.


But there is one other critical, but perhaps unexpected area you need to consider – and that is communications. With your stakeholders, and with potential investors.


Creating and launching a brand new financial product for the first time will require a huge leap of faith for your senior stakeholders. They are likely expert in the environment and business, not investment finance. Though this is all new to you as well, you will need to take them with you on the journey, taking the time to understand their views and the potential barriers to achieving their buy-in, winning them over each step of the way. Don’t expect an easy ride – you may experience resistance from some leaders to venture away from the safety of known funding routes. This is very real communications challenge.

Equally, most investors are new to the concept of natural capital investment. It is coming up the agenda fast as the markets recognise the huge opportunity it presents, but nature-based solutions are the least well understood and tend to offer the lowest financial returns so present the biggest risk. Bold and charitably-minded investors are needed to get the market established. Your investors will be some of the first in the world to invest in nature-based investment products. But who are they, how will you reach them and how will you persuade them to invest? Which investors will your product be attractive to? Will turning the environment into business rather than feel good and tax saving charity work, turn off some high net worth and family office contacts you have? 

Sensitive market research and a careful exploration of what motivates investors to support environmental projects will be needed. You will need to use this to inform a clear and compelling story to communicate your environmental offer, pitched at the right level for investors savvier in finance than yourself. You will need to test your product with potential investors before it is launched, with the hope that you may even secure some investment before your product goes to the wider market, thus building confidence. Build in lots of time to listen to their views, adapt and test further iterations of your product to get it right. 

Don’t let communication be your Achilles heel in becoming investment ready. In the face of the climate emergency and nature crisis that face us all, put simply, there is too much at stake to fail.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― George Bernard Shaw

By Stephanie Walker, Leadertree Consulting

Leadertree Consulting offers marketing, fundraising and project management consultancy, paired with deep environmental insight. Founder and Director, Stephanie, has previously project managed the development of a nature-based investment product for one of the UK’s leading conservation charities. If you would like to discuss making your environmental project investment ready, please get in touch.