Strong sense of disappointment but countries recognize the role of business to deliver a transformative agreement on nature
This week in Nairobi, Kenya, nearly 200 countries gathered for the final round of discussions to agree a new global agreement on nature due to be finalized later this year. This was an extra round of negotiations following the lackluster outcome in Geneva recently. The week started promisingly: with the long-awaited announcement that COP15 will take place from 5-17 December in Montreal, Canada. While this initially created a sense of excitement and determination, these sentiments were short-lived.
While there were a few bright spots – including greater recognition on the role of business and significant momentum in favor of mandatory requirements for businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on nature, many of the most important issues (yet again) – remain to be agreed. Overall, the level of ambition, urgency and scale across many of the targets was disappointing and negotiations did not happen as fast as delegates and observers would have liked.
This outcome means the stakes and bar is set high as all eyes look ahead to COP15.
“What we need now is strong leadership and engagement at the highest political level – including Heads of State ahead of and during COP15 if we’re to get on the right track and deliver a strong outcome that truly recognizes and appreciates our relationship with nature.”
Failure to make progress on conservation goals and targets
On the global target to protect 30% of land and 30% of oceans, while negotiations went late into the night, little progress was made. Indigenous leaders at the meeting also urged policymakers to make sure the final agreement safeguards and scales up recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their ability to conserve nature, which is vital to preventing climate change, biodiversity loss and pandemic risk.
More support than we’ve seen before for mandatory disclosure
Syed Mohazri S. Hazari, Deputy Head, Ecology & Environment Department, DHI Water & Environment delivered Business for Nature’s statement at the opening plenary.
Negotiations on Target 15 and the role of business took place late into the night on Friday. It’s fair to say that for the Business for Nature team on the ground, the conversations felt different, with the role of business and financial institutions being acknowledged by key governments to help deliver meaningful action to halt and reverse nature loss. We saw growing interest from policymakers to understand what it will take in the Global Biodiversity Framework to scale and speed up business action.
We also saw significant momentum in favor of “mandatory requirements for businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on nature, across operations, value chains and portfolios”. However, a minority pushed back on this, and active engagement will be needed in the months ahead to make sure this stays in the final text. Countries also agreed to “take legal, administrative or policy measures” for business and financial institutions to act. The need for business and financial institutions to reduce their negative impacts on nature by at least half and increase positive impacts is still in the proposed text for further discussion in Montreal.
More work left to do on Environmentally Harmful Subsidies
While we welcome the simplification of text of Target 18 on environmentally harmful subsidies, frustratingly countries did not have enough time to reach consensus on many of the key elements Business for Nature has been pushing for, including the need for a numeric target to reduce harmful subsidies by at least USD 500bn and agreement on the need for full reform of subsidies that harm the environment – which we believe is essential to achieve a nature positive economy.
Much of the text was left bracketed and therefore will need further discussion and agreement in Montreal.
Mission to halt and reverse nature loss
Like we started to see in Geneva, this meeting confirmed the growing and broad support from many countries on the need to have a 2030 mission to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030”. It was strongly supported by many countries although several were still asking questions around the concept of “Nature-Positive”. Business for Nature continues to support this level of ambition, which is foundational to a transformative and successful Global Biodiversity Framework and provides a clear direction for the business community to rally behind.
Aligning financial flows with the goals of the Framework
Business for Nature’s Climate and Nature manager, Michael Ofosuhene Wise joins civil society organizations in Nairobi taking a stand for a more ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework.
Much work was put into how to implement the Framework alongside the role of finance, which continues to be a sensitive issue. Informal groups were created to try and move forward the work started at the last round of discussions. Some progress was made: there was consensus from governments on the need to adopt language to align both private and public financial flows, and on reducing negative impacts and increasing positive impacts on biodiversity.
But many of the key elements still need to be agreed to land a clean text in Montreal, with the language seen to end up weaker overall. For example, the word “progressively“ risks undermining the urgency needed to ensure the implementation of the alignment of public and private financial flows as immediate action is needed. Mentioning specific sectors also risks excluding sectors unintentionally, as the target should apply for all sectors that have an impact and/or are depended on nature.
We were pleased to hear support from the G7 leaders at the opening plenary, who have committed to align all financial flows to biodiversity objectives.
What happens next?
Civil society called for leaders to stand by existing promises and accelerate progress towards an ambitious global biodiversity agreement - demonstrated by a giant snakes and ladders board.
What we need now is strong leadership and engagement at the highest political level led by the Chinese Presidency and Canada as the host country ahead of and during COP15 if we’re to get on the right track and deliver a result that truly recognizes and appreciates our relationship with nature. The next six months will be crucial to build this political will, as this is what was missing in Nairobi.
We will need to show business leadership by inviting CEOs/C-suite from progressive companies to actively participate in COP15 in Montreal. We hope to work with China, Canada and the Convention on Biological Diversity to make sure the presence and engagement from business is facilitated, which will require the logistics to be clearly communicated ahead of time. Business for Nature would also like to see:
an impactful Business and Biodiversity Forum during COP15
a “Business Action Hub” to showcase how businesses are acting on nature
We will continue to amplify a powerful leading business voice pushing for greater ambition in the run up to COP15 and the voice of business remains crucial. In this final push, we must keep up the active collaboration between business and governments to secure a meaningful and impactful global nature agreement, in particular by demonstrating the importance of mandatory requirements in creating a level playing field which in turn accelerates business action.
“More than 1, 100 businesses are asking governments for more ambitious policies because they recognize the future risks they face. While there has been a sense of urgency on the ground because of the COP15 dates being announced, progress remains frustratingly slow, and the lack of ambition and scale is disappointing.
Leading businesses stand ready to support the implementation of a transformative global agreement on nature. Now we need the political will to make it happen.””