🔮 The Five Forces of Stickiness

This week we were inspired by some of the epic work of Eric Wilburn on a concept he refers to as the Stickiness factor - if you’re not signed up to Eric’s blog you definitely should be!

This is the first in a two part series on “Stickiness”. This week we’ll explain the concept and next week go a bit more into the “So What” for investors, businesses and policy makers.

The Concept of “Stickiness”

We’ve been focusing a lot recently on understanding how, and where, the private sector has material risks and dependencies on nature.

By material we mean where there is a clear and obvious link between the health of ecosystems in which a business operates and the long-term financial health of that business.

The hypothesis being, where we can clearly identify risks and dependencies linked to the health of ecosystems, there is greater incentive for an organisation to invest in the protection of those ecosystems.

But there is one key assumption that underpins this hypothesis. Businesses will invest in place instead of shifting their supply chain and operations somewhere else. 

Eric’s work refers to this as "Stickiness".

"Stickiness" is the extent to which a business' financial wellbeing is inextricably tied to a specific place. The term perfectly captures what may be the most important factor in determining if a business will voluntarily pay for nature protection: how stuck are they?

The Belo Monte Dam in Brazil's Xingu River Basin offers a clear example of high stickiness. This $18.5 billion hydroelectric plant depends entirely on consistent river flow. If the Xingu river, which has experienced major droughts in recent years, ceases to flow, that investment becomes stranded. The dam is unique in that it has a shallow reservoir and depends on annual flows to remain consistent to produce maximum energy. A drop of 5m in reservoir height and the dam can no longer produce energy. The company that owns Belo Monte and its investors have a strong incentive to maintain forest cover and the water cycle in the Xingu basin.

In contrast, agricultural businesses typically demonstrate low stickiness. A recent article in the Economist points to evidence that deforestation is costing Brazilian farmers millions through delayed rainy seasons and reduced rainfall. It highlights: "In areas where more than 80% of the forest has been cleared, the onset of the rainy season has been delayed by 76 days since 1980”. The Xingu basin is surrounded by agricultural crops that are dependent on rainfall from a functioning Amazon biome. This is a significant challenge for farmers in the region. However, large agricultural commodity buyers, who are buying from those farmers, can quickly shift their sourcing to different regions. These companies are constantly assessing where production is best today and where it may be best tomorrow.

A stark example of low stickiness can be seen in the cacao industry's shift from West Africa to South America. For decades, major chocolate companies sourced the majority of their cacao from Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. However, as these regions faced increasing challenges from climate change, aging trees, and disease outbreaks, companies responded by significantly expanding sourcing from countries like Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. This was to ensure supply continuity. Between 2015 and 2023, Ecuador's cacao exports more than doubled. 

This got us thinking:  What else determines how “Sticky” a business is.

The Five Forces of “Stickiness”

We can identify five key forces that determine a company's level of stickiness to a specific ecosystem:

1. Asset Immobility

This measures how easily a company can relocate or replace its physical assets. Companies with high capital investment in immovable infrastructure (dams, mines, factories) face high stickiness. The mobility of assets directly affects a company's ability to respond to ecosystem changes by simply relocating. The Belo Monte dam represents extremely high asset immobility, while trading companies with minimal physical infrastructure demonstrate low asset immobility. Global shipping companies demonstrate low asset immobility despite their enormous vessels, as these assets can be redeployed to different routes when regional weather patterns or coastal ecosystem degradation makes certain ports less viable.

2. Resource Specificity

This measures a company's dependence on geographically unique natural resources. Businesses reliant on location-specific resources (mineral deposits, unique agricultural conditions, specific water sources) face high stickiness. Wine producers dependent on specific terroir, mining companies tied to particular ore deposits, or tourism operations reliant on unique natural features all demonstrate high resource specificity. Commodity grain traders exhibit low resource specificity, allowing them to rapidly shift sourcing away from regions experiencing drought or soil degradation to unaffected areas. This effectively externalises nature risk to local producers who cannot relocate.

3. Supply Chain Integration

This measures the depth and localisation of a company's supply chain relationships. Businesses with highly integrated local supply networks, specialised local suppliers, or significant investments in regional infrastructure face increased stickiness. Agricultural processors with substantial investments in regional collection, storage, and transportation systems demonstrate higher supply chain integration stickiness than commodity traders. Fast-moving consumer goods companies often maintain deliberately low supply chain integration, contracting with multiple suppliers across diverse geographies precisely to avoid dependence on any single supplier or ecosystem.

4. Temporal

This measures a company's operational time horizon relative to ecosystem change timelines. Businesses with long-term capital deployment, slow production cycles, or extended payback periods face increased temporal stickiness. Forestry companies with 30-year growth cycles have high time horizon constraints, creating incentives for long-term ecosystem management. Fashion retailers demonstrate minimal time horizon constraints with rapid inventory turnover, allowing them to quickly adapt to or abandon regions experiencing ecosystem degradation before significant impact to their operations.

5. Market Concentration

This measures the number and relative power of companies dependent on the same ecosystem services. Regions with few dominant players versus many fragmented ones face different collective action dynamics around ecosystem protection. Oligopolistic industries can more easily coordinate conservation efforts, while fragmented industries struggle with free-rider problems. The hydroelectric sector, often dominated by a few large players in a watershed, typically shows higher market concentration than smallholder agricultural production. The garme

The Five Forces of “Stickiness” can help to identify where the strongest business cases for nature investment exist today. By analysing these forces across different industries and regions, energy and investment can be focussed on companies with the highest "stickiness" – those with the most compelling financial interest in ensuring the health of their surrounding ecosystems.

• For investors: the stickiness framework provides another lens for assessing nature-related financial risks. Companies with high geographic stickiness may face greater exposure to physical climate risks and ecosystem degradation, but may also represent opportunities for impact investment in nature-based solutions that benefit their operations.

• For Businesses: By identifying which parts of your business have high stickiness to specific ecosystems, you can prioritise nature investments where they deliver the clearest ROI and competitive advantage.

• For Nature-Tech startups: This means identifying customers with high stickiness. These businesses face material financial risks from ecosystem degradation that cannot easily be avoided through relocation or substitution. They’ll require your support!

Does the stickiness framework resonate? Is there anything you would improve? Let us know by replying to this email.

Next week we’ll be taking a deep dive into the “so-what” for stickiness for Investors, Businesses and Policymakers. Stay tuned.

💬 Snippets for your lift conversations

💼 Big business:

• WEF releases nature assessment indicators It provides 11 indicators that institutions can integrate into their portfolio assessment sin order to mainstream nature in financial decision making (Read more)

• Windtech International integrates biodiversity-focused innovation into a French floating wind pilot project. (Read more)

🏦 Finance:

• An African nature accelerator has relaunched, aiming to help raise funds with a different focus after facing obstacles in the biodiversity credit market. (Read more)

• Brazil’s Mombak Raises $30 Million to Scale Amazon Reforestation and Carbon Removal Projects (Read more)

• EFM and Sojitz launch $200m US forestry fund targeting Japanese LPs (Read more)

💻️ Tech:

• The satellite that will "weigh" world's 1.5 trillion trees (Read more)

• EU's Nature and Biodiversity Programme 2025 opens applications for projects focused on the smart implementation of EU biodiversity laws and strategies. (Read more)

• UN-backed music fundraising campaign announces 30 artists have released new tracks inspired by nature to help raise money for global conservation and biodiversity efforts. (Read more)

📖 Research:

• Integrated spatial planning shows that nature restoration and economic productivity can be balanced, suggesting paths for sustainable growth in the EU. (Read more)

• Peatland ecosystems in Colombia can store between four and 10 times more GHGs than other vegetation types, including rainforests (Read more)

📝 Policy:

• Indigenous leaders, emphasizing spiritual connections with marine life, demand a stronger role in the high seas biodiversity treaty's governance. (Read more)

• More than 60 countries and organizations announced new commitments to sustainable ocean action at the Our Ocean Conference in South Korea this week, pledging a total of $9.1 billion. (Read more)

• President Trump backs seabed mining, Climeworks inks another carbon removal deal, and a new EV charging record is declared. (Read more)

🎣 Deals

🇺🇸 Forge Nano raised $40M (Series D) for their nano-coating technology that enhances battery performance Source

🇩🇪 eeden raised $20.2M (Series A) for their upcycling technology for the textile industry Source

🇺🇸 Growers Edge raised $25M (Series C) for their data-driven financial services for agriculture Source

🇺🇸 ChEmpower Corporation raised $18.7M (Series A) for their advanced materials and specialized chemistry Source

🇺🇸 InventWood raised $15M (Series A) for their innovative strengthened wood production Source

🇺🇸 Hoofprint Biome raised $15M (Series A) for their probiotics designed to improve the sustainability of ruminantsSource

🇮🇳 Green Grahi raised $3.7M (Seed) for their conversion of organic municipal waste into high-value products Source

🇮🇳 Satleo Labs raised $3.3M (Pre-Seed) for their space technology and remote sensing solutions Source

🇳🇱 Peckish raised $0.9M (Pre-Seed) for their AI-powered inventory management system for food businesses Source

🇺🇸 Rise Robotics raised $1.5M (Series A) for their robotic solutions for agriculture Source

🇩🇪 LiveEO raised (Late VC) for their satellite data and machine learning for infrastructure monitoring Source

50+ Startups are raising >$100mn in our network this year - get in touch to hear more

💭 Little Bytes

📊Read: Yale scientists discovered two new darter species in Alabama streams, already critically impreiled (Read more)

🎞️  Watch: Ireland donates $16 million to Brazil's Amazon Fund (Read more)

💬 Research: The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform highlights the urgent threat of invasive alien species and the need for management. (Read more)

📆 Events

We’re hosting an inaugural drinks event in London on the 8th May - Live from a Vertical Farm - Sign up here

🇺🇸 The U.S. Tech for Climate Action Conference 2025-05-01 (Attend)

🇸🇪 Nordic Sustainability Expo 2025-05-05 (Attend)

🇺🇸 WasteExpo 2025 2025-05-05 (Attend)

🇸🇬 Cleantech Forum Asia 2025-05-06 (Attend)

🇺🇸 International Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming ICCCGW 2025-05-11 (Attend)

🏴 Tech Tour Green Energy 2025 2025-05-14 (Attend)

🇨🇭 HackSummit 2025-05-15 (Attend)

🇬🇧 Impact Investing World Forum 2025-05-19 (Attend)

🇺🇸 The Chicago Venture Summit 2025-05-19 (Attend)

🇺🇸 Carbon Unbound 2025-05-20 (Attend)

💼Jobs

Start-up or Funds:

• Founders Associate, Amini, Nairobi / London / Paris (Apply)

• General Opportunities, Ulysses, San Francisco (Apply)

• Head of Sales Europe, Planet A Foods, Germany (Apply)

• Backend Engineer, Landbanking Group, Germany (Apply)

• Sales Development Representative, Arbonics, Remote (Apply)

• Director of Nature Based Solutions, Sylvera, UK (Apply)

• The Great Bubble Barrier (Multiple Roles)

• Behold - CTO (Apply)

Corporate:

• Product Manager - Nature, Bloomberg, London (Apply)

• Nature-Based Solutions, Subject Matter Expert, Ramboll, USA, (Apply)

  See 10+ more Nature Jobs
  Submit a job