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Nature-based solutions for businesses
Businesses invest in nature-based projects to support carbon removal, restore biodiversity, and improve the wellbeing of local communities. In doing so, they strengthen their sustainability reporting, meet regulatory expectations, and build stakeholder trust.
Businesses are going beyond carbon to restore ecosystems
What are nature-based solutions?
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions that protect, restore, and sustainably manage ecosystems to address environmental and societal challenges. Rather than altering or replacing natural systems with man-made solutions, they work with nature’s own processes to support ecosystem recovery and strengthen the health and resilience of natural environments. The United Nations Environment Assembly defines them as "initiatives that deliver benefits for climate, biodiversity, and people at the same time". They help remove carbon from the atmosphere, restore biodiversity and ecosystem health, and support local communities by creating sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities.
Carbon
NbS mitigate climate change by capturing and storing carbon. The IPCC estimates that nature-based solutions could provide up to 30-37% of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed by 2030 to keep warming below 2°C.
Biodiversity
NbS restore biodiversity by regenerating habitats and supporting species. Over 50% of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Restoring ecosystems helps reverse biodiversity loss while protecting economic systems.
People
NbS support communities by strengthening livelihoods, health, water security, and community resilience. Nature restoration generates significant social returns, with every $1 invested in ecosystem restoration delivering $7-30 in economic benefits.
High-integrity projects around the world
Examples on nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions can take many forms across different ecosystems. Examples include restoring degraded peatlands to function again as carbon sinks, protecting tropical forests and grasslands that store carbon and restore biodiversity, regenerating agricultural farm soils and sustainable land management, and rebuilding coastal ecosystems such as mangroves that protect communities from storms and rising sea levels.
Businesses can choose to support multiple nature-based projects, investing in landscapes and ecosystems that align with their brand and sustainability goals.
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Grasslands restoration
Restoring degraded grasslands by reintroducing native grasses, improving soil health, and removing invasive species. This helps rebuild soil carbon and recover ecosystem functioning.
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Mangrove regeneration
Helps store large amounts of carbon (“blue carbon”), protects coastlines from storms and erosion, supports marine biodiversity, and strengthens the livelihoods of coastal communities.
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Forest restoration
Restoring degraded or deforested land so forests can recover their ecological functions, biodiversity, and carbon storage. We need to protect the forests we have and restore those that have been destroyed.
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Why Earthly focuses exclusively on nature-based solutions
Climate change and biodiversity loss are deeply interconnected. You cannot solve one without addressing the other. That’s why every sustainability solution we support is rooted in nature. As well as sequestering carbon, nature-based solutions provide co-benefits like boosting biodiversity and improving the livelihoods of local people.
We have witnessed first-hand what regeneration through NbS looks like: degraded peatlands restored to functioning carbon sinks, biodiversity returning to protected habitats, soil recovering its vitality, and local communities building sustainable livelihoods around thriving ecosystems. And the impact is measurable: carbon removed, species protected, communities strengthened through employment, education, empowerment, health and water security.
If mobilised collectively, even a fraction of global business capital redirected toward nature restoration can shift ecosystems back toward recovery at scale. Nature has an extraordinary ability to regenerate, when given the chance.
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How businesses can invest in nature-based solutions with Earthly
Every business has an impact on nature through its operations, supply chains, and resource use, knowingly or unknowingly. Because of this, businesses have a responsibility to understand, reduce, and manage these impacts by improving how they operate, source materials, and use natural resources.
For responsible and sustainable businesses, the first step in building a credible sustainability strategy is understanding where their impacts occur. By measuring emissions, resource use, and supply chain risks, companies can identify where action is needed most and prioritise reducing their environmental footprint through efficiency improvements, lower-carbon operations, and more responsible sourcing.
For impacts that cannot yet be fully eliminated, businesses can invest in nature through high-integrity carbon credits and biodiversity credits, helping finance projects that protect and regenerate natural environments.
Purchase carbon credits
Support projects that remove or avoid carbon emissions by protecting and restoring natural ecosystems such as forests, peatlands, and mangroves. Balance carbon from a specific project or use credits to achieve net zero goals.
Purchase biodiversity credits
Invest in projects that restore habitats, protect species, and regenerate ecosystems while delivering measurable benefits for ecosystems and local communities around the world. Balance your business' impact on nature.
Plant a tree for the planet
Businesses can plant a tree as a gift for employees, customers, or stakeholders as a way to contribute to nature restoration. Planting trees in degraded landscapes helps rebuild forests, improve soil health, and create habitats for plants and animals.
Did you know?
With nature-based solutions we can remove 1/3 of the CO2 needed to avoid climate breakdown by 2030.
UN Environment Program
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Corporate nature investment: Why businesses are investing in nature
Nature-based solutions are increasingly recognised as a critical part of global climate action. The United Nations estimates that high-integrity NbS projects could mitigate up to 10 gigatonnes of CO₂ per year, equivalent to around 27% of current global annual emissions, making them an essential component of achieving the Paris Agreement targets alongside rapid decarbonisation
However, despite their potential, investment in nature restoration remains significantly underfunded. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse have been identified by the World Economic Forum as one of the top five global risks over the next decade, yet a global financing gap of around $700 billion per year persists.
According to UNEP’s State of Finance for Nature report, only 17% of current investments in nature-based solutions come from private finance. Closing this gap will require significantly greater participation from businesses and investors.
By supporting high-integrity nature restoration projects, businesses can play a vital role in scaling climate and ecosystem recovery while contributing to global sustainability goals.
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How Earthly ensures credible nature impact
Helping businesses invest in nature with confidence
High-integrity science-backed project selection
We offer fully verified, science-backed nature-based solutions assessed across more than 160 data points, tracking the delivery of carbon, biodiversity, and social outcomes. Only projects that meet our minimum integrity thresholds are selected.
Project risk management framework
Our proprietary assessment framework continuously integrates new data sources to strengthen project evaluation and quality oversight. For businesses, this means greater confidence in both environmental performance and reputational security.
Transparent project scoring and impact tracking
We use advanced monitoring tools to track carbon performance and ecosystem health. This transparency reduces greenwashing risk and strengthens sustainability reporting, stakeholder communication, and long-term strategy.
Earthly’s expertise in high-integrity nature-based solutions
At Earthly, we have spent more than five years analysing nature-based projects across global carbon and biodiversity markets. Over this time, our team has assessed more than 1,000 projects worldwide, developing deep expertise in identifying high-integrity projects that deliver credible impact.
Keystone 3.0 - beyond carbon, beyond doubt
The latest evolution of our nature project assessment - Keystone 3.0 - is a science-led framework that analyses nature-based projects across more than 160 indicators, to identify high-integrity projects and compare them across different ecosystems and standards.
The framework is ecosystem-agnostic and registry-agnostic (considering both international certification standards and emerging nature disclosure frameworks, including registries such as Plan Vivo, Verra and Gold Standard, and guidance from frameworks like TNFD). It provides a holistic assessment that goes beyond carbon alone and helps businesses identify nature projects that deliver lasting impact.
World-class scientific advisory oversight
Earthly’s methodology is guided by an independent Scientific Advisory Board composed of experts in climate science, ecology, biodiversity, and environmental policy. The board provides ongoing input into our integrity framework, project selection criteria, and the evolution of Keystone as new research and market standards emerge.
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