We use cookies that are necessary to make our site work as well as analytics cookie and third-party cookies to monitor our traffic and to personalise content and ads.
Please click “Cookies Settings” for details on how to withdraw your consent and how to block cookies. For more detailed information about the cookies we use and of who we work this see our cookies notice
Necessary cookies:
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website and cannot be switched off in our systems. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will then not work. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
Optional cookies:
Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers. We work with third parties and make use of third party cookies to make advertising messaging more relevant to you both on and off this website.
“We are not entering an era of change, but a change of era” – interview with Marc Palahí, our Chief Nature Officer
Article initially published in Forbes France on 22.05.2025
As Nice prepares to host the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2025), a clear message is emerging: nature, and especially the ocean, must have a formal seat alongside economic and political decision-makers.
In this interview, Marc Palahí, Chief Nature Officer at Lombard Odier, calls for the appointment of Chief Nature Officers (CNOs) able to rethink global finance around planetary limits, channel capital toward nature-based solutions and transform an economic model no longer fit for purpose. Positioned at the intersection of science, ethics, and investment, this new role, he believes, could become as strategic as that of a Chief Financial Officer in the years to come. Why? Because the economy of the future can only thrive if it is fundamentally connected with nature.
As we look ahead to the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, is it time for nature, especially the ocean, to have an official voice in decision-making through the creation of a Chief Nature Officer (CNO) role?
I believe the climate crisis cannot be solved without recognising, valuing and investing in nature for what it truly is: the fundamental infrastructure that sustains life on Earth. Nature regulates our climate, provides the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. Nature is the fabric that supports all the processes in the world we live in, including all our economic activities. Yet, our current economic system fails to acknowledge this, as it derives value from price, rather than pricing what has true value. Appointing CNOs or hosting international conferences won’t resolve the issue unless we address its root causes, which are systemic and require us to tackle the crisis affecting nature and the climate by fundamentally transforming our economy to centre it around nature.
Sign up for our newsletter
Lombard Odier’s recent “rethink sustainability” campaign highlights the urgent need to reimagine our economic systems. How can a CNO help drive this transformation toward a regenerative and nature-positive model, particularly for safeguarding and restoring oceanic and coastal ecosystems?
In my view, a Chief Nature Officer should offer a new, science-based perspective so financial decision-makers can understand the reality of the world we have created in terms of the planetary limits within which we must operate. It is essential for the financial sector to understand the laws of nature that govern our planet, as they will impact and constrain our economic activities.
It’s very simple. Nature is the most real and valuable asset we possess. Yet, for over two centuries our economic system has operated at the expense of nature, the climate and our own future. We have reached a tipping point in human history; we are surpassing what are referred to as planetary limits (climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, soil degradation, deforestation, and so on). This means our environment can no longer absorb the shocks created by our economy, and that our economy, having failed to value nature, must now bear the cost of destroying nature.
The effects are already visible. Insured losses linked to climate change and ecosystem degradation worldwide have doubled over the past ten years compared to the previous decade. Many supply chains are on the verge of collapse due to the combined effects of climate change and the degradation of nature. We have seen the rapid rise of the prices of many food commodities, such as cocoa and coffee.
A CNO should contextualise these impacts, highlight the interconnections, and also propose nature-based solutions to turn the situation around. They must also provide a new science-based narrative that explains why we need to transition to a nature-centred economy and how to do it to secure long-term resilience and economic stability for society, including the clients and pensioners to whom we have fiduciary responsibilities. They need to be catalysts for change. In addition, the structure of teams and organisations within the financial sector needs to be reconsidered to address the unprecedented systemic challenge we face.
Do you think this coming decade, from 2025 to 2035, will mark the tipping point for integrating nature and ocean health into the broader financial system? Can the Chief Nature Officer play a key role in this evolution?
I hope the next decade will be the tipping point for reshaping our economy around nature. However, I believe that many of the positive changes we’ll see will occur as a result of the unprecedented negative economic impacts we will witness over the next five to ten years, driven by the combined effects of climate change and the degradation of nature. For CNOs to be effective, it is crucial that the leadership of the company they work for is fully committed to driving transformational changes.
From the perspective of the UNOC, what specific commitments would you like to see from the private sector and financial institutions to protect biodiversity and the natural capital of the oceans?
It is very important for the private and financial sectors to recognise that protecting the oceans is not only vital for climate stability and biodiversity, but also fundamental to the long-term viability of the ocean economy. Destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling not only have a negative impact on marine ecosystems; they also undermine economic viability, deplete fish stocks, and weaken the ocean’s ability to provide a range of ecosystem services, including adaptation and resilience to the growing impacts of climate-related risks.
Given this situation, both the private and public sectors must support a just transition to sustainable fishing practices. This includes strengthening the role of small-scale fisheries, while protecting biodiversity and providing climate-related services. To achieve meaningful change, transformative partnerships are needed to bring together financial institutions and stakeholders across ocean supply chains. These collaborations must ensure that funding reaches local communities and the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that form the backbone of the economy, accounting for 90% of businesses and 70% of jobs.
With the biodiversity funding gap estimated to exceed USD 600 billion per year, and the oceans remaining severely underfunded, how can Chief Nature Officers help mobilise capital on a large scale and direct investments toward positive outcomes for oceans?
Chief Nature Officers play a critical role in designing investment funds that can mobilise capital for nature-based solutions, such as restoring mangrove swamps and coral reefs, creating protected marine areas, or promoting sustainable fishing and tourism. These initiatives not only support biodiversity but can also generate long-term economic returns. CNOs should have the scientific knowledge and credibility needed to co-lead (with Chief Investment Officers) the design and implementation of fund strategies that deliver tangible results in the field.
Lombard Odier positions nature both as a solution and a source of value. But how can we elevate the economic importance of ecosystems without reducing nature to a mere commodity? What are the ethical boundaries that CNOs must navigate?
For me, nature is the cornerstone that enables all other assets to function. It is the best strategy and the best partner we have to avoid the unmanageable and manage the inevitable. The real challenge for CNOs lies in helping the financial sector understand that nature is not just a mere asset class or a ‘commodity’, but the basic foundational infrastructure that enables our entire economy to function. We need a systemic and cross-functional understanding of assets and to invest accordingly. Historically, investing in nature has been seen as a shortcut to compensate for shortcomings in our current economic system. This is not the path to follow. We need to invest in nature not to compensate for a failing economic model, but to transform it. That’s how we move towards building a nature-first economy.
The role of the Chief Nature Officer sits at the intersection of science, finance, politics and ethics. Do you think this role will become as strategically important to companies as the Chief Financial Officer or the Chief Sustainability Officer in the years ahead?
I believe the role of the Chief Nature Officer will become essential, but only if businesses, organisations and sectors give it central importance. To achieve this, we must first recognise that we need to rethink our economy so that it thrives in harmony with, and is fed by, nature, rather than at its expense. Appointing a CNO should not be symbolic. It must be a highly strategic and transformative decision, otherwise it will have little impact within the organisation or company.
Finally, what message would you send to the next generation of leaders, particularly women, indigenous communities and young people from coastal and island nations, to encourage them to take on nature-centred leadership roles? And how can we empower the Chief Nature Officers of tomorrow to take action?
We are not entering an era of change, but a change of era. The transformation ahead is as profound as the one Europe underwent 500 years ago during the Renaissance, which set the stage for the scientific and industrial revolutions. These revolutions placed humans at the centre, overlooking the fact that we are an integral part of nature. This human-centred era culminated in the creation of an extractive economy fuelled by fossil resources, which was developed at the expense of nature. An economy completely disconnected from nature and unaware of the ecology of the planet on which it has been established.
Yet, ecology and economy are two sides of the same coin. Both words are derived from the Greek word oikos which means ‘house’ and ‘environment’. Ecology is the study (logos) of the environment. Economy is the management (nomos) of the environment. We cannot manage what we do not understand... This is where Chief Nature Officers are essential for providing this understanding.
important information
This is a marketing communication issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”).
It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a marketing communication.
share.