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The CSO Survey:
Why trust is the deciding factor in nature investment
We ran this survey to understand an important question: how do sustainability leaders really see the role of nature-based solutions today - and what’s holding action back?
58%
Of sustainability leaders say concerns about project integrity have delayed, reduced or prevented investment.
18%
Only 18% of Chief Sustainability Officers trust the majority of nature or carbon projects on the market.
#1
"Independent, science-based assessments" would most increase buyer confidence to invest in projects.
View the full report
Access our the report which features all the survey questions, responses and data.
Read our blog
Explore our analysis of the survey results in this article from the Earthly team.
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Talk to our experts about project integrity and sustainability-risk management.
Contact us ->This survey was conducted to understand how concerns about project integrity are influencing real-world investment decisions in nature and carbon markets.
We asked respondents a series of questions focused on three areas: how integrity concerns affect investment decisions, how leaders perceive the overall quality of available projects, and what would most increase their confidence to invest. The aim was not to measure intent alone, but to understand where and why action is breaking down.
Earthly undertook this research against the backdrop of five years of assessing nature-project quality. Through independently screening more than 1,000 nature projects, we’ve found that over 90% fail to meet minimum quality standards for environmental integrity, social safeguards, or long-term climate and biodiversity impact. This raised an important question: are the concerns we see in project data reflected in the experiences of decision-makers?
This survey provides a clear answer - and a clear signal for change.