We are experiencing an unprecedented decline in nature, and humans are causing it. One million out of an estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction (IPES). WWF’s recent Living Planet Report also revealed that global wildlife populations have seen average declines of nearly 70% in just 50 years. The United Nation’s COP15 conference in Montreal is a pivotal opportunity to set a bold pathway to deliver transformational change for people and nature.Read our summary of Week 1 at COP15. |
About COP15
From 7-19 December 2022, government leaders, and business and finance stakeholders will join the United Nation’s COP15 conference in Montreal, for a shared goal - the protection and restoration of biodiversity. COP15, or the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is set to see the adoption and implementation of a “Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), an ambitious roadmap of what countries need to do to reverse nature loss. Some of the key ambitions for the biodiversity summit include:
- Turning 30% of the Earth’s lands and seas into protected areas by 2030.
- Ensuring that, by 2050, a “shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled”.
- Eliminating billions of dollars of environmentally-damaging government subsidies and restoring degraded ecosystems.
CISL at COP15
“If political leaders continue to devalue nature, they put at risk our ability to protect human security and health, including access to clean air, safe drinking water and nourishing food, and to control climate change. The planet needs a ‘Paris moment for nature.’
Clare Shine, CEO, CISL
With business and finance stakeholders present in record numbers, COP15 needs to deliver an ambitious framework for re-alignment for a sustainable future. CISL’s aim is to drive ambition and action in putting nature, wellbeing and resilience at the heart of the economic model. Our three recommendations for driving nature-positive transformation of our society and economy:
Tackle the nature and climate crises as
one:
We must set the bar high for meaningful action to achieve net zero while protecting and restoring nature. We must integrate nature loss risks into existing assessments
of climate change risk, and avoid unintended impacts of climate solutions upon nature.
Put nature at the heart of all policy and regulation:
Governments must integrate nature into decision-making at all levels and be highly ambitious. This includes creating an
enabling environment for business and finance to drive activities aligned with
nature restoration and regeneration and acting to end the overexploitation of nature, particularly through the provision of harmful subsidies.
Embed nature in decision-making across business and finance:
Economic and financial systems need to transform how they view and value nature. Businesses must seek to adopt a regenerative model for nature. At the same time, financial institutions should integrate nature into financial decision making to embed the logic of regeneration and support the transformation of the real economy.
Read our new COP15 Briefing for the holistic approach and practical steps that CISL is calling for.
Delegates
The following CISL leaders will be joining COP15 in Montreal:
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Clare Shine, Director and CEO
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Eliot Whittington, Director of Corporate Leaders Groups
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Grant Rudgley, Programme Manager for the Banking Environment Initiative
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Pascale Palmer, Head of Media
To mobilise action, CISL leaders will be hosting or speaking at a number of events at COP15:
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Monday 12 Dec, 19.00-20.30: CISL Networking Drinks: CISL will convene members of our network to discuss the nature agenda; Clare Shine will be speaking, with others speakers also sharing their thoughts on how we can turn rhetoric into action to deliver tangible change. Express an interest here
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Saturday 10 Dec, 12.00-13.30: Strengthening measurement and accountability for nature-positive business actions. Eliot Whittington will be joining as a speaker introducing CISL’s thought leadership on nature-positive.
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Monday 12 Dec, 1800: EY networking event. Clare Shine will deliver opening remarks as EY bring together organisations engaging in the nature agenda.
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Wednesday 14 Dec, 09.30-11.30: Banks and Businesses’ Natural and Climate Actions: A Collaborative Response to the Biodiversity and Climate Crisis. Clare Shine will participate in this Finance Day panel event discussing how financial institutions can link their climate and nature agendas.
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Wednesday 14 Dec, 14.00-15.15: Breakout Session 2: Approaches for tracking, measurement, target setting and disclosures as a means of mainstreaming biodiversity within the organisation. Grant Rudgley will join as a speaker highlighting the tools that CISL have created to help organisations understand, address and report their actions on nature.
CISL is also proud to be supporting the following events:
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Friday 9 Dec, 10.15-11.45: Reforming environmentally harmful subsidies for a nature positive future.
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Saturday 10 Dec, 18.15-19.45: Practical business' experiences in integrating nature values in decision-making.
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Thursday 15 Dec, 07.30: COP2COP Round Table Discussion.
