Does it make sense to "invest" in "natural capital" for a financial profit?

Our society needs to put great efforts into protecting the aspects of nature that we depend on — for instance, to shift to consuming resources sustainably, and clean up those that are poisoned, and to protect those that face the threat of being poisoned. The payoff for society from that will not be financial gain — it will be survival.

However, the idea of making this a private investment for profit presumes a way to capture the benefits as profit for the investment. The articles says nothing about how that might work, but I fear it will cause great trouble.