Highlights from our 2025 Climate and Nature Investing Initiative
- Feb 2
- 2 min read
Cascade Advisory gathered over stakeholders from venture capital, financial institutions, private companies, nonprofits, and government to explore the shifting landscape of climate and nature investing in 2025. Here are our key learnings.
The Future of Climate and Nature Investing Initiative
Cascade held three roundtables on the shifting landscape of climate and nature investing in 2025: at the Forest Congress in Washington DC, at the ACLCA conference in Atlanta, and on the sidelines of NYC’s Climate Week. Our aim was to map developments in this critical sector, connect stakeholders to one another, and develop actionable insights for government affairs and strategic communication.
Selected takeaways
We were fortunate to gain insights from multiple sectors and numerous participants throughout our Initiative. Their contributions gave us a good feel for the complexity of climate and nature investing in today’s political climate. We would like to highlight three points here:
Climate, nature, and sustainability will remain crucial considerations going forward. Participants emphasized that climate investments continue to be viewed as crucial for long-term profitability. They may be important in the short-term as well, as businesses respond to strong consumer support for sustainability and cost savings accompanying life cycle assessments. Deceleration is more a reflection of uncertainty in the economic and regulatory context than an indication of waning support.
Effectively communicating these investments is more important than ever. Despite this ongoing support for sustainability, economic – not scientific or climate – arguments are the most effective path to gaining public (and at times also political) support for these investments and related projects. The focus should be on signaling the value delivered to users in the form of affordability, enhanced safety, and other quality-of-life improvements. Doing so can boost success even in communities less interested in environmental issues.
Strong governance will be key to navigating uncertainty. Our discussions indicated companies with internal clarity about their own corporate priorities and stakeholder engagement strategies are better placed to manage this dynamic investment environment. “Operational gymnastics” may continue to be required in 2026 and beyond as companies face conflicting incentive structures and leadership changes at the state, national, and international levels.
Looking ahead
Please see the attached memos for the full takeaways from each roundtable and stay tuned to the Cascade blog for other insights gained from the Initiative. We are also happy to discuss business-specific challenges related to climate and nature investing one-on-one, so please reach out if we can help.
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