COP15: Three things to look out for
COP15: three things to look out for
Gemma James and Rebecca Drury, Biodiversity and Nature Team, Chronos Sustainability
Hot on the heels of the UN Climate Conference, COP27, the long-awaited 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) in Montreal will see the world agree a Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. A once-in-a-decade opportunity to avert the biodiversity crisis, COP15 is being dubbed as the much needed “Paris moment for nature”.
The private and finance sectors play a huge role in achieving the transition required to deliver against nature targets. Here we highlight three outcomes that we, at Chronos, believe are crucial to enabling this.
Clear connections between nature and climate
Climate and nature are inextricably connected. Nature acts as a carbon sink helping to mitigate climate change, nature loss drives climate change (and vice versa), and some decarbonisation activities can drive nature loss. In addition, nature supports adaptation and resilience to the climate impacts to which we are already committed and experiencing.
That we cannot solve the climate crisis without tackling nature loss was formally recognised at COP26 with commitments made by governments, corporates and financial institutions on deforestation and land conversion. COP27 held a dedicated Biodiversity Day, and WWF also held a session on Transition Plans for Net Zero, Nature Positive future recognising the role of nature in transition planning.
Now that the role of nature is recognised as key to meeting net zero, transition plans must also consider nature, including identifying co-benefits (and trade-offs) of nature and net zero goals. The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) recently released Recommendations and Guidance on Financial Institution Net-zero Transition Plans. Whilst not comprehensive from a nature perspective, the guidance highlights halting deforestation as part of transition planning and recognises nature generally. The Transition Plan Task Force (TPT) has released the gold standard for best practice transition plans which also makes the connections with nature. These signal that action on nature and climate are becoming less siloed, and a growing recognition that halting nature loss is as important as tackling climate change.
With the outcomes of COP27 in mind, we can move into COP15 ready to make the connections and identify those co-benefits and trade-offs. Policy frameworks need to consider nature alongside climate change and to encourage companies and investors to integrate nature in transition planning.
Business action to halt and reverse nature loss
The private sector plays a crucial role in halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Recognising this, Target 15 stipulates that the private sector assess and report on biodiversity impacts and dependencies, reduce negative impacts by half, and increase positive impacts. A coalition of over 300 businesses signed up to a campaign, coordinated by Business for Nature, to call on governments to make it mandatory for businesses to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity by 2030. This would require companies to identify, avoid and reduce the negative impacts that they have on biodiversity through their operations and value chains.
Whilst each of the key drivers of biodiversity loss identified by The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) has a dedicated target in the draft Global Biodiversity Framework, the focus is not only on reducing negative business impacts on biodiversity. The transition to a better future state for nature – termed “nature positive” – is also being explored. Whilst there isn’t a formally agreed definition of nature positive, there is agreement that we need more nature than we have now and businesses have a role in achieving this and to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss. The Business and Biodiversity Forum at COP15 will host sessions with businesses on identifying opportunities to achieve net gain in biodiversity through restoration and regeneration and transformative business practices to move us towards nature positive. This is an opportunity for policymakers to recognise the contribution business can make across the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. A strong policy framework in support of Target 15 would enable business to scale actions on halting and reversing nature loss, be incentivised to a shift away from business-as-usual practices, as well as to collaborate with stakeholders at the global and local levels.
Financial flows to deliver biodiversity targets
There has been growing momentum in the financial sector to address biodiversity loss and this will be the first time that there will be such a significant presence of financial institutions at a CBD COP. This is reflected by a dedicated first-of-its-kind Finance and Biodiversity Day, providing an opportunity for the global financial community to engage with each other and policymakers on integrating biodiversity into financial decision-making processes in an effort to align financial flows with nature goals.
Financial portfolios are exposed to nature-related risks and opportunities. However, finance requires a certain and supporting environment to help set the business case, assess nature related impacts and dependencies, and disclose progress against targets. The finance voice will also be heard at COP15 through a statement coordinated by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), UNEP FI and the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge calling on governments to adopt an “ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework” with a clear mandate to align financial flows with biodiversity goals, assessment and disclosure of nature-related impacts and dependencies, and clear targets for nature-positive investments.
At COP15, the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge will announce new signatories committing to set biodiversity targets, engage with companies, assess impact and to report on progress by 2025. To date 111 financial institutions have signed up to the pledge, signalling significant mobilisation of the finance sector to address biodiversity loss. This is in addition to the development of the anticipated investor-led collaborative engagement, Nature Action 100, which will soft launch at COP15. The TNFD (Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosures), which has recently provided additional guidance for financial institutions in its latest release (v0.3) of the Beta framework, will also be hosting a series of workshops on how to use nature-related data.
A strong policy environment to support these outcomes
These are just three aspects of many activities occurring at COP15. However, its success will be constrained to whether governments can resist a watered-down text and agree on an ambitious framework. A strong policy environment and mandate is required so that finance can align capital with biodiversity goals and businesses can implement transformative actions. Affirming nature and climate in policy frameworks and encouraging integration through mechanisms like transition planning will contribute to meeting nature and climate goals. This moment brings together a mobilised private and financial sector to take action to reduce and halt nature loss and bring it back on to a path to recovery. Chronos is working with organisations across the NGO, corporate and financial sectors on all three of these outcomes with the aim to enable impactful actions and influence policy to adopt ambitious goals on nature.