4 April 2025
Briefing
BRIEFING: Why carbon markets aren’t a good model for investing in nature
This briefing is based on a webinar discussion between Professor Alex Teytelboym and Emily Norton, given to the AFN Network+ community on the 28th February 2025. Alex’s work on auctions was done in partnership with his University of Oxford colleagues Professor Paul Klemperer and Professor Elizabeth Baldwin.
About the topic
Oxford University economist Alex Teytelboym sets out a new approach to scaling investment in nature recovery. At a time of urgent need for private finance to pick up the heavy lifting in nature recovery, Alex explains why existing market designs such as carbon and Biodiversity Net Gain are not sufficient to scale investment in nature.
He presents an innovative case study to demonstrate how a different, auction based approach, could scale and enable investment.
Alex was in conversation with Emily Norton, AFN Network+ policy champion, and natural capital markets expert.
This briefing is collated and written by Nina Pullman, food systems writer for AFN Network+, who has also lightly edited the transcript to paraphrase in parts. The briefing is edited by Jez Fredenburgh, knowledge exchange fellow at AFN Network+.
You can also watch the webinar.
