People – Planet – Profit

Nature and Ethical Finance: Putting People, Planet, and Fair Profit Back at the Centre

For decades, we have accepted the idea that finance is a world separate from real life — an abstract universe made of algorithms, high-frequency trading, derivatives, and instantaneous profits. But this separation does not exist: the decisions taken in the boardrooms of major investment funds influence what we eat, breathe, consume, and even the wars fought in the world.

According to the World Inequality Report 2026, global wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a tiny number of actors. Major banks and insurance companies — controlled by giants like BlackRock, Vanguard, J.P. Morgan, UBS, Allianz — together with sovereign wealth funds from Norway, Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore and others, govern trillions of dollars. A tremendous power that shapes the real world far more than national governments.

Yet this speculative finance — money made from money — does not respond to the needs of people nor to the protection of the Planet. In fact, it often sacrifices both. When the same capital can move from weapons to healthcare, from fossil fuels to education, from pesticides to tourism, without any ethical criteria, it means that the daily lives of billions of people depend on the decisions of a few global financial actors.

It is an increasingly evident paradox: the real economy depends on a financial system disconnected from reality, where futures can influence the price of gas or wheat, where short-selling creates artificial volatility, and where derivatives can even threaten the stability of entire states.

In such a fragile and interconnected scenario, it becomes urgent to rethink the model.
The answer already exists, with a simple name: Ethical Finance — People, Planet, Profit.

People – Planet – Profit: A New Possible Balance

Ethical Finance starts from a clear principle:
profit is legitimate, but it cannot come before people and nature.

It means supporting activities that:

  • guarantee human rights, equity, and dignified work;
  • protect ecosystems, forests, soils, water, and biodiversity;
  • generate fair economic returns, but always subordinate to the common good.

Respect for human beings cannot be separated from respect for other living beings and the environments we depend on. Forests, oceans, soils, and rivers are not mere “resources”: they are natural infrastructures that sustain life and the economy.

Today economics confirms what many Indigenous communities have known for millennia:
caring for nature pays off.

The Environment Creates Value: The Numbers Are Clear

  • Every euro invested in nature generates between 4 and 38 euros of economic return, according to the European Commission.
  • In Italy, a large-scale ecological restoration plan would produce €2.4 billion in benefits with only €261 million in costs (Sixth Natural Capital Report, Italian Ministry for the Environment).
  • Protecting ecosystems creates jobs, reduces climate damages, and stabilises entire productive sectors.

It’s not only about the environment: it’s economics.
It’s not only ethics: it’s financial prudence.

As EU Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra recently reminded us, the real risk to competitiveness is inaction. Delaying interventions today means paying far more tomorrow.

Nature as Productive Capital: The Invisible Economy that Sustains the World

Clean water, crop pollination, fertile soils, climate regulation: these ecosystem services are the foundation of the global economy. Yet they do not appear in company balance sheets.

And still, according to the European Central Bank:

  • 72% of Eurozone companies depend directly on one or more natural services;
  • 75% of bank loans go to sectors that rely on these functions.

If biodiversity collapses, the entire economic system collapses.

The World Bank warns that the degradation of just three services — pollination, fisheries, and timber — may cause a $2.7 trillion loss in global GDP by 2030.

Foreste per Sempre OdV has seen this for over thirty years in the field:
when a forest disappears, it is not only trees that vanish — entire local economies collapse.

Soil, Water, Climate: The Foundations We Are Eroding

Global natural capital is deteriorating:

  • habitats are in critical condition;
  • forests’ carbon-absorption capacity is decreasing;
  • soils are degrading, undermining food security;
  • extreme climate events are growing faster than our ability to adapt.

In this context, Ethical Finance is not an option “for idealists”:
it is the only strategy for economic and social survival.

Ethical Finance and Biodiversity: Why the Financial World Must Change Now

Financial institutions now play a decisive role in halting biodiversity loss.
This is not merely a moral principle: it is an enormous financial risk.

Ignoring biodiversity means:

  • destabilising supply chains;
  • increasing the cost of raw materials;
  • generating resource scarcity;
  • creating systemic risks capable of overwhelming entire economies.

This is why more and more institutional investors recognise that nature is a strategic asset and that Ethical Finance is the only model capable of ensuring long-term stability.

The Current Picture: Who Really Controls Global Wealth

Global capital distribution is not uniform. It is highly concentrated and shapes the planet’s economic and environmental choices.

Major Sovereign Wealth Funds (2025)

Among the world’s most influential:

  • Norway – $1.74 trillion
  • China Investment Corporation – $1.22 trillion
  • Abu Dhabi Investment Authority – $709 billion
  • Kuwait Investment Authority – $708 billion
  • GIC (Singapore) – $690 billion
  • Saudi Public Investment Fund – $620 billion
  • Hong Kong Authority – $589 billion
  • Temasek – $497 billion
  • Qatar Investment Authority – $461 billion

These funds provide national stability, but they also invest in sectors with major environmental impacts.

Major Private Asset Managers and Hedge Funds

These are the real “directors” of global finance:

  • BlackRock – $10 trillion
  • Vanguard – $8 trillion
  • Fidelity – $4.5 trillion
  • State Street – $4 trillion
  • J.P. Morgan AM – $3 trillion
  • Allianz GI – $2.5 trillion
  • Capital Group – $2.3 trillion
  • Goldman Sachs AM – $2.1 trillion
  • UBS AM – $1.6 trillion
  • Bridgewater (hedge fund) – $150 billion

BlackRock alone manages more assets than the largest sovereign wealth funds combined.

That money is neither virtual nor neutral; it belongs to us.

These are the lifetime savings, pension funds, insurance policies, and bank accounts of millions of people. Money gathered to guarantee security and a stable future, yet it often fuels speculation, environmental harm, exploitation, and conflicts—frequently without the knowledge or consent of the rightful owners.

This concentration allows a small number of private entities to shape the climate, agriculture, energy, and urban development on a global scale.

Finance governs everyone yet bears no responsibility to anyone. Changing its rules is not merely ideology; it is a democratic imperative.

Why Foreste per Sempre Supports Ethical Finance

As an organisation working for over thirty years to protect tropical forests — in Costa Rica, the Amazon, and Madagascar — Foreste per Sempre OdV sees every day the consequences of speculative finance and the positive effects of ethical finance.

Investing in nature means:

  • protecting human rights and local communities;
  • safeguarding biodiversity and climate stability;
  • generating real, durable economic development.

It is time to rebalance the relationship between finance and life.
The Planet cannot be left in the hands of speculative logic.
A development model based on People – Planet – Profit is not only possible: it is necessary.

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