Source: The blog was adapted from San Jose Impact Hub

Why Impact Hub Costa Rica and UNDP BIOFIN are championing a new environmental language for Costa Rica and beyond.

When "going green" is no longer enough

For years, environmental conversations in Costa Rica and around the world have revolved around concepts such as sustainability, conservation and "going green." Today, however, global conversation is evolving. More precise and ambitious concepts are reshaping how we understand the relationship between economic development, finance and nature.

Humanity has exceeded the planet's carrying capacity, a phenomenon often referred to as ecological overshoot. Its consequences are already affecting people's well-being while creating growing risks for economies and financial systems worldwide. This reality calls for a fundamental shift in the way we think, make decisions and invest.

Against this backdrop, Impact Hub San José and the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) are helping bridge environmental ambition with practical action. Through entrepreneurship, innovation, public policy and biodiversity finance, both initiatives work to transform complex environmental challenges into measurable, scalable solutions. Rather than promoting the latest sustainability trend, they seek to reshape development models, strengthen economic decision-making and recognize nature as an essential asset for prosperity, resilience and long-term development.

To explore this transition, we spoke with Ana Lucía Orozco, Biodiversity Finance Specialist with UNDP BIOFIN, who has worked with governments, financial institutions and organizations around the world to help close biodiversity finance gaps. Drawing on her international experience, she explains why environmental language has evolved—and why today's challenges require concepts that are more ambitious, measurable and regenerative.

"We can no longer settle for a passive idea of 'green' as an accessory or an additional responsibility. We need to understand that sustainability alone is no longer enough."

Through her work with countries worldwide, Ana Lucía has also observed a common challenge: environmental terms are often used interchangeably even though they represent different concepts. Some have become diluted through overuse, while others fail to capture the complexity of today's global biodiversity crisis.

As she explains:

"We need to speak the same language and use the same terms. We also need to move beyond simply talking about these concepts, we must be able to measure them consistently if we are serious about achieving the goals humanity has set for itself."

At Impact Hub Costa Rica and UNDP BIOFIN, we believe that countries aspiring to lead in innovation, regeneration and sustainable development need conceptual clarity. That is why we are opening this conversation.

Sustainability: the foundation and the limits of "doing less harm"

For decades, sustainability has been the cornerstone of environmental thinking. At its core, sustainability seeks to balance social, economic, and environmental priorities without compromising future generations.

Over time, however, the term has often become a catch-all expression, sometimes used without fully considering its meaning.

Ana Lucía emphasizes that sustainability requires rigorous thinking and systems-level approaches—not simply good intentions.

"We're not allowing nature to regenerate. We've already crossed that threshold. We have to think beyond simply reducing impacts; regeneration and restoration need to become part of our activities."

This is perhaps sustainability's greatest limitation. It was designed to stabilize systems, not necessarily restore them. In a world where biodiversity loss, climate change and ecosystem degradation have already reached critical levels, simply reducing harm is no longer sufficient. We need development models that actively restore nature.

Nature Positive: moving beyond protection to regeneration

This is where the concept of Nature Positive comes in.

Nature Positive calls for a shift from mitigation to regeneration, from protecting what remains to actively restoring ecosystems, and from minimizing negative impacts to delivering measurable net-positive outcomes for nature.

Conservation alone is no longer enough. The goal is to leave nature in better condition than before.

"The idea of 'positive' means not stopping at a baseline of zero or simply 'doing no harm.' It means asking how we can go beyond breaking even and create a genuinely positive impact."

Through UNDP BIOFIN, Ana Lucía has supported and witnessed initiatives around the world that demonstrate that Nature Positive is no longer a distant aspiration—it is already happening.

One example is Costa Rica's Raíces Indigenous Tourism Programme, which shows how business models can simultaneously generate positive outcomes for people, biodiversity and local economies.

Experiences like these illustrate that investing in nature can create lasting social, environmental and economic value.

This is precisely the kind of vision we hope to amplify in Costa Rica and beyond.

Greenwashing: when appearances replace action

As environmental expectations continue to rise, so too does the risk of greenwashing—presenting products, services or investments as environmentally responsible without delivering meaningful environmental outcomes.

According to Ana Lucía, there are clear warning signs, from vague environmental claims without supporting evidence to indicators that cannot be independently verified.

"Anyone can paint something green, but that doesn't change reality. An activity may still be polluting rivers, degrading soil and harming nearby communities despite being marketed as environmentally friendly."

For biodiversity finance, business and public policy alike, distinguishing genuine impact from appearance is essential.

That requires transparency, traceability, consistent methodologies and credible measurement. It also depends on stronger standards, robust certification systems and independent verification to ensure that environmental claims are supported by evidence and deliver real-world results.

Sustainability, Nature Positive and Greenwashing: what's the difference?

Although these concepts are often mentioned together, they represent very different approaches.

Sustainability focuses on balancing environmental, social and economic objectives while reducing negative impacts.

Nature Positive goes further by restoring ecosystems, regenerating biodiversity and creating measurable positive outcomes for nature.

Greenwashing, by contrast, creates the appearance of environmental responsibility without meaningful action or evidence.

Understanding these distinctions is becoming increasingly important for governments, businesses, investors and financial institutions seeking to direct resources toward credible, high-impact solutions for biodiversity.

Visual: Comparison Table: Sustainability vs. Nature Positive vs. Greenwashing

Sustainability is the foundation. Nature Positive is the destination.

Costa Rica has earned international recognition for its environmental leadership and long-standing commitment to conservation.

The next step is to build development models that do more than protect nature—they restore ecosystems, regenerate biodiversity and create resilient economies.

As Ana Lucía puts it:

"We need to transition toward a model that can reverse negative investments, move them toward neutrality, and ultimately create opportunities that generate positive outcomes."

At Impact Hub Costa Rica and BIOFIN, we believe this transition begins with informed dialogue, conceptual clarity and a shared vision.

By speaking the same language, measuring what matters and investing in solutions that genuinely restore nature, we can move beyond sustainability as a minimum standard and embrace a future that is truly Nature Positive.

Sustainability has brought us this far.

Nature Positive can take us even further.