In this era of ever-increasing weather and climate disasters, nature-based solutions, like hybrid green-gray infrastructure, hold incredible promise as a climate adaptation solution, but accepted norms and engineering standards are a key barrier limiting applications. The increasing pace and intensity of climate threats means we do not have time to develop accepted engineering standards for nature-based solutions the way we have in the previous millennia. Creating the next generation of climate resilient infrastructure will require the engineering and construction industry to design and build with nature. We need to continue learning by doing and accept that the complexity of nature-based solutions requires flexible design approaches– versus rigid standards. The current approach to evidence-based decision making for nature-based solutions is at best – project, region, or problem specific.