Biodiversity COPs

Driving global action for nature

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is one of the three Rio Conventions created in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, alongside the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The UN CBD gathers every two years at the Conference of the Parties (COP, also known as ‘Biodiversity COP’), a pivotal moment where governments come together to review progress and make decisions about the future of our planet. They are critical moments for collaboration, advocacy and action by various stakeholders, including business.

At the UN CBD COP15, held in Montreal, Canada in 2022, governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework – a landmark agreement to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.

The role of business

Businesses have a critical role to play at the UN CBD COPs, calling for political ambition and turning commitments into action. Their leadership is crucial in demonstrating that ambitious global policies are both necessary and achievable.

We saw this in action at UN CBD COP15, where Business for Nature convened leading businesses to convince governments raise the ambition for business action in Target 15.

Target 15 commits governments to require large companies and financial institutions to assess and disclose their nature-related risks, impacts and dependencies on nature.

At UN CBD COP16 in 2024, our coalition convened over 230 companies, representing $1.7 trillion in revenue to call on governments to accelerate implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Recent biodiversity COP developments

COP16 in Colombia and its resumed session, COP16.2 in Rome, underscored the urgent need for accelerated action to address the biodiversity finance gap, building on Colombia's "Peace with Nature" leadership.

Key outcomes include:

  • Establishing a finance roadmap to unlock at least $200 billion annually by 2030

  • The launch of the Cali Fund for private sector finance and benefit-sharing

  • Governments reaffirming their commitment to reforming environmentally harmful subsidies.

These CBD COPs also saw increased business and finance participation, a push to integrate climate and nature agendas, and enhanced monitoring for the Global Biodiversity Framework. While progress was made, big gaps remain that public and private sectors must work together to address.

We call on businesses to actively and responsibly engage with policy, join collective calls for action and advocate for specific policies.

Looking ahead

The momentum for nature action continues towards the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - COP30 in Belém, Brazil and the UN CBD COP17 due to take place in Armenia in 2026.

Although COP30 is a climate COP, its location in the most biodiverse region of the world’s most biodiverse country makes it an opportunity to bring the interconnected crises of climate change, nature loss and social inequality together on the global agenda.

These COPs will be crucial for implementing policies and securing financial flows which benefit people, nature and business.

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