30 October 2024 - At the halfway point of the UNCBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia, what has been achieved on the key topic of mobilising resource?
As we hit the halfway mark in the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), the CISL delegation on the ground in Cali, Colombia, outline the key finance discussion points below and what has been achieved thus far by negotiators from 196 parties.
Convening under the theme “Peace with Nature,” COP16 builds upon the landmark agreement from 2022’s COP15 in Montreal, Canada, which aimed to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights. The Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework (GBF) included concrete targets to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet under protection by 2030. It also contained targets for financing nature conservation and restoration in developing countries.
The signing of the Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 was a landmark moment, now COP16 needs to ensure that pathways to implementation are created and finance is flowing to where it is needed most.
And so, COP16 needs to deliver.
Resource mobilisation
The mobilisation of adequate financial resources is key for the successful implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework and is reflected in Goal D, Target 19. Therefore, one of the primary issues for negotiators this week has been determining how countries will mobilise resources between 2025 and 2030 to achieve this. So far there are longstanding divisions on finance, which are creating an impasse to be overcome in the next couple of days.
There is approximately a $700 billion per year gap between the current and required financing to meet the 2030 targets of the GBF. This includes both decreasing harmful subsidies by USD500bn per year and directing USD200bn per year towards biodiversity. Finance, both public and private, has a central role to play in closing this gap. But public finance is falling short.
To build trust in the negotiations and allow for progress, money needs to be put on the table to deliver the pledge of USD20bn per year of financing to developing countries.
A positive finance story is the announcement of $163 million in new pledges to Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. However, much more needs to be done. Another philanthropic success story is the announcement of a historic $51.7 million pledge by leading philanthropies including Arcadia, Bezos Earth Fund, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, to accelerate the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the high seas was announced.
Central to these finance discussions is the debate over whether an additional fund should be established that is formally governed by the CBD, in addition to the existing Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), which is managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This will take time to set up and has the potential to reopen old divisions between Global North and Global South on sources of funding, recipients, and types of instruments that are used.
A group of developing countries – concerned about their access to the existing finance fund agreed at COP15 – is pushing a proposal to establish a new fund for biodiversity under the COP. The plan is for it to replace the one created in Montreal, which is managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and offer biodiversity-rich developing countries a bigger say in how it is run.
Dr Nina Seega, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Finance, convened by CISL, said: "The question of financing nature restoration and conservation is the deciding issue for the success of the COP. Source, quantum and structure of either existing funds or any funds being set up are key to the delivery of the GBF, both on targets 18 and 19.
“It is absolutely key that if a new fund is set up, it enables private finance to flow into nature restoration and conservation and that these flows are trackable and connectable to the NBSAPs. This is why a lot of the NGO conversation at the COP is centering around financial system reform and the use of public and philanthropic capital to drive private finance towards nature positive economy.
“The positive that we are seeing is that finance and business are here and they are keen to engage in the conversation to ensure that an ambitious and enabling framework is set up.”
So at the end of the first week the negotiating positions of countries are still quite far apart and decisive leadership is needed to get agreement.
Finance Day
On 28 October, COP16’s thematic campaign focusing on finance, global leaders and industry experts highlighted the urgent need for alignment in finance to drive transformative change for climate, biodiversity, and people.
Focusing on reducing pressures leading to nature loss was discussed as being key to achieving the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework, alongside conservation efforts. It is crucial that more attention is drawn to mitigating the negative impacts on nature today. See CISL’s recent report, Scaling Finance for Nature: Barrier Breakdown, for more on this.
Sara Taaffe, from CISL’s Centre for Sustainable Finance: “Discussions happening at COP16 are critical but the actions that follow will be even more important. This includes the alignment of climate and nature efforts, which is paramount. Otherwise, we are not truly addressing the challenges at hand. Solutions for climate and nature must consider their interconnection. And the financial materiality of nature loss poses significant risks at both micro and macroeconomic levels.”
Another issue, where almost the entire text is still in brackets (the COP term for text needing to be heavily negotiated) is the climate and biodiversity connection. The climate and nature crises need to be tackled together, yet there is little progress in agreeing how to go ahead.
In more positive news during the first week, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) announced that the total number of companies and financial institutions committed to getting started with voluntary reporting of their nature-related issues in line with the TNFD recommendations now stands at 502. This marks a 57% increase since the first formal announcement of TNFD Adopters in January 2024.
CISL is a key contributor to capacity building for the new nature related corporate reporting. It is also focused on helping companies with business model transformation at the ‘transform’ stage of the TNFD process.
Determining National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)
Ahead of COP16, countries were required to submit their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Colombia submitted a strong NBSAP on the opening day, setting an ambitious tone. As of the end of the first week, only 34 countries plus the EU (18% of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)) have submitted their revised National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), while 115 countries (59% of Parties) have published one or more revised National Targets.
One of the reasons for the lack of full scale NBSAPs is the lack of resources and capacity to design these. It is imperative for NBSAPs to be formulated and published as soon as possible so that we can move to implementation and business and finance can create strategies to finance and deliver on these targets.