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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPublished February 11, 2022<\/a> by Anna Begemann<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Key narratives on how to harness finance for forests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While \u201ccash is king\u201d and \u201cmoney talks\u201d, the importance of the financial sector for forests has often been overlooked in the past despite alarming deforestation rates and a clear need to better protect and manage forests worldwide. With NGOs campaigning against \u201cdirty banks\u201d driving deforestation in key hot spots such as the Amazon, it is no longer possible to ignore the connection of the two sectors. But change \u2013 at least in some parts of the financial sector \u2013 is on its way. Under the headline of \u201csustainable finance\u201d, voluntary initiatives have developed in the financial sector and sustainable finance regulation in some parts of the world is emerging. At COP 26, 30 financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, as well as insurance and asset management companies committed to eliminate agriculture-driven deforestation from their investment and lending portfolios by 2025 (read the commitment letter here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n While these are positive signs, sustainable finance is yet a blurry term. Without academic research available, it is unclear how it connects to forests. That\u2019s why we interviewed 51 experts from financial institutions such as banks and investment management companies, timberland and impact investors, international organizations, civil society organizations and academia. Most participants came from Europe as one of the spear heading regions worldwide to develop regulation on sustainable finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we found is, that 2\/3 of interviewees agreed that there is no common understanding of what sustainable finance means in relation to forests. For us this indicates that there is potential confusion on the topic itself even within the expert community. That\u2019s why we decided to identify main narratives to see if there are any common threads and differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch our video to get an overview of how experts perceive the connection of sustainable finance with forests:https:<\/p>\n\n\n\n