UK businesses are highly exposed to risks from climate change and nature degradation, which erode billions of pounds from the UK economy every year. Nearly every economic sector is experiencing financial losses from floods, droughts, disease outbreaks, soil health decline and pollution.

The UK Government has now recognised this as a national security risk, undermining food security, disrupting supply chains, and increasing geopolitical risk.

While national threats are becoming more widely accepted, it is at a local level, however, where these risks are borne out and where they are felt most acutely. It is also at a local level where mitigation and adaptation against these risks needs to be delivered.

Nature‑based Solutions (NbS), alongside traditional grey infrastructure, offer cost‑effective tools that can address multiple risks simultaneously. Yet despite their potential, structural barriers continue to prevent business investment in NbS and the development of scalable, efficient models that allow businesses to co-invest alongside one another.

Supported by Defra, the Green Finance Institute is working with different regions across the UK to understand how climate and nature risks are impacting local businesses and how these businesses can work collectively to co-invest in Nature‑based Solutions and build long‑term economic resilience.

As part of this programme, the Green Finance Institute collaborated with Natural Capital East, a coalition of major regional businesses and regulators including Anglian Water, Tarmac, National Grid and National Highways, to identify priority investment opportunities and the steps needed to unlock them.

Through extensive engagement with businesses, public sector organisations and supply‑side stakeholders, the work has:

• Identified priority locations where local businesses share resilience needs, creating a strong case for co-investment.
• Pinpointed the structural barriers currently preventing investment in Nature‑based Solutions.
• Developed practical recommendations that strengthen business cases, build an investable pipeline, and enable scalable, co‑investment models

While anchored in Norfolk and Suffolk, the recommendations have national relevance, offering a clear pathway for regions across the UK to mobilise private investment in NbS and build long‑term resilience.