The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17) concluded in Yerevan last week, marking an important moment for global efforts to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Four years after governments agreed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), COPConference of the Parties (COP)The Convention of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest decision-making body of the Convention. Every year the UNFCCC hosts the COP to drive action on climate change. read more17 delivered the first formal review of progress against its goals. The message was mixed: commitments remain intact, but the world is not yet on track to deliver them.
Our key takeaways from the conference
The focus is shifting from ambition to action
One of the biggest outcomes from COP17 was governments agreeing the Yerevan Pathway,1 a plan to accelerate progress towards the GBF’s 2030 targets rather than renegotiate them. Priorities for the pathway include reforming subsidies that harm nature, mobilising finance, and strengthening national accountability. With progress falling short, the challenge is now turning commitments into meaningful action.
Financing biodiversity remains a major obstacle
Developed countries didn’t meet the 2022 commitment to provide $20bn annually by 2025. The GBF aims to mobilise at least US$200 billion annually for biodiversityBiodiversityRefers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. read more by 2030, but significant financing challenges remain. While more than US$1.8 billion in new funding was announced at COP17,2 key decisions about long-term financing arrangements were pushed to COP18 in 2028. The slow mobilisation of corporate contributions to the Cali Fund also highlights the difficulty of translating ambition into funding.
With biodiversity finance emerging as a key challenge at COP17, outcomes-linked bonds offer one way to channel more funding towards measurable nature outcomes. In this video, impact investment manager Archie Cage explains how these bonds work and their potential to deliver real-world impact.
Implementation will increasingly matter for businesses
Nearly 90% of countries had established national biodiversity targets ahead of COP17, but fewer than half of the targets assessed were on track.3
As governments focus on implementation, businesses and investors may face growing expectations to understand nature-related risks, manage their impacts and demonstrate progress.
You might also be interested in reading: Feeding the future: investing in food and agriculture systems
What we’re watching next
COP17 reinforces the importance of our ongoing work to understand, measure and engage with companies on nature-related issues.
Improving data and disclosureDisclosureInformation formally provided by a company, fund or investor about its activities, risks, performance or outcomes. Disclosure supports transparency, although the existence of disclosure does not necessarily mean the information is complete or comparable. read more is a particular priority. Unlike carbon emissions, biodiversityBiodiversityRefers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. read more can’t be captured through a single universal metric. Impacts and dependencies vary significantly across locations and ecosystems, making consistent measurement challenging. Frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) are helping, but significant gaps in data and comparability remain.
We recently joined 15 other financial institutions in calling for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop a dedicated Nature Standard, helping investors access more consistent and comparable information on companies’ impacts and dependencies on nature.
You can read more about the initiative here.
Building on our commitment to the Finance for Biodiversity pledge, we’ll continue to engage with companies and advocate for stronger action, while monitoring progress on finance, policy and measurement ahead of COP18.
Overall, COP17 hasn’t changed the direction of travel, but it has reinforced the urgency of delivery. For investors, understanding how companies depend on and affect nature will only become more important.
