Triodos Bank introduced its first integrated Climate and Nature Strategy on Monday, advancing a consolidated framework that ties emissions reduction, biodiversity protection and financial-sector reform into a single roadmap. The announcement comes on the heels of COP30 in Brazil, where governments failed to make progress on aligning climate and nature targets—an outcome that sharpened the urgency behind the Dutch lender’s decision.
The strategy, called Dare to Act. Now., is built around four pillars that cut across climate mitigation, energy transition financing, ecosystem restoration and systemic policy change. It marks the first time Triodos Bank has unified its climate and biodiversity objectives and reflects a broader shift in parts of the financial sector toward treating the two crises as inseparable.
“Climate change and biodiversity loss are not separate crises. They are deeply interconnected,” said Marcel Zuidam, CEO of Triodos Bank. “Restoring ecosystems is essential to stabilising the climate, and climate action must protect biodiversity. Our strategy is about real reductions, real solutions, and real leadership. Together, we can drive the systemic change needed to stay within planetary boundaries.”
A Response to Gaps in Global Policy
For policymakers and multilateral institutions, the strategy lands at a consequential moment. The lack of convergence between climate and biodiversity negotiations at COP30 highlighted a structural weakness in global governance: climate agreements rarely account for nature loss, and biodiversity frameworks often overlook the energy and financial systems that drive emissions.
Triodos’ approach attempts to bridge that divide. The bank commits to cutting absolute financed emissions by at least 42 percent by 2030—an increase in ambition from 2022—and targets the parts of its portfolio responsible for 90 percent of its footprint: business loans, mortgages and listed equities and bonds managed by Triodos Investment Management. The scale of these reductions aligns with the 1.5°C pathway and anticipates regulatory expectations that have yet to fully materialize.
The strategy also places pressure on financial regulators, arguing that voluntary action will not be sufficient as banks worldwide continue to channel €650 billion annually into fossil fuels. Triodos calls for mandatory fossil-fuel phase-out pathways, short-term emissions reduction requirements through 2035 and explicit alignment of financial regulation with the Paris Agreement.
Financing a Different Kind of Energy Transition
A central feature of the plan is a commitment to finance 275 energy-transition projects in the next five years. Unlike traditional lending models that prioritise large utilities, Triodos Bank aims to shift more capital toward decentralised, next-generation and community-led systems. The deal-count target is designed to broaden participation in the energy transition and reflects a view increasingly shared among development institutions: resilient transitions rely on distributed solutions, not just major infrastructure investments.
For multilateral development banks and public investors, this emphasis underscores an emerging challenge. Smaller cooperatives and innovators often lack access to capital, even though they can expand energy access and strengthen resilience in ways large-scale projects cannot. Triodos’ model signals where demand may grow as governments revise national energy strategies in the aftermath of COP30.
Nature-Based Solutions Become a Financial Expectation
The strategy’s third pillar commits €500 million to high-integrity Nature-based Solutions that address climate and biodiversity simultaneously. Beginning in 2026, the bank will report on both its funding progress and the positive biodiversity impacts of financed projects—a disclosure approach that positions Triodos Bank ahead of evolving global norms.
For governments and UN agencies, the move reflects a broader trend: nature finance is becoming a central piece of climate policy, not an add-on. As CBD parties look toward integrating biodiversity targets with climate implementation, early adopters in the financial sector are setting precedents for measurement, verification and integrity standards.
A Push for Systemic Reform
Triodos’ fourth pillar—advocacy—extends beyond the bank’s own operations. It calls for reforms that would reshape financial flows at the sector level, including binding rules on fossil-fuel phase-out pathways, clear differentiation between emissions reductions and carbon removals, and frameworks to ensure integrity in Nature-based Solutions.
The bank’s support for the proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty highlights a growing divergence between institutions pushing for rapid transition and policymaking environments where commitments are increasingly inconsistent. Governments, investors and businesses are described as “backtracking” on earlier goals, reinforcing the need for stronger regulatory anchors.
Implications for Global Governance
By merging climate and nature objectives, the strategy mirrors conversations taking place across UNFCCC, CBD, and finance-sector regulatory bodies—where alignment has been slow but is increasingly recognised as essential. For MDBs, the approach offers a signal that future interventions may need to combine energy transition, biodiversity restoration and climate adaptation into integrated investment models.
For the financial sector, the strategy raises a more immediate question: whether voluntary leadership can meaningfully influence a market in which fossil fuels still attract hundreds of billions in lending each year. Triodos Bank offers a template for what next-generation transition planning could look like, but scaling such approaches will depend on regulatory mandates and international coordination.
What Comes Next
Starting in 2026, Triodos Bank will begin annual reporting on its Nature-based Solutions commitments and biodiversity impacts. Implementation of the 42 percent emissions reduction target and the financing of 275 energy-transition projects will shape the bank’s trajectory through 2030. As global negotiations continue to struggle with climate–nature integration, Triodos’ hybrid strategy is likely to become a reference point for debates on financial-sector accountability, transition planning and the role of private finance in delivering global environmental goals.
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