COP16: Radical collaboration is needed to build a nature-positive world

By Eva Zabey, Chief Executive Officer, Business for Nature

We now know that six of the nine planetary boundaries within which humanity can safely live on Earth have been breached, with a seventh at tipping point.  Figures just released by WWF show that global wildlife populations declined by 73% between 1970 and 2020, and that vital ecosystems that buffer the world against climate chaos – from the Amazon to the Great Barrier Reef - are close to collapse.

Human-driven land conversion, overexploitation, climate change and pollution are putting our natural world under unbearable pressures, and the window to safeguard the ecosystem services that underpin our economies and societies is rapidly closing.

The world has woken up to this threat, and in December 2022 came nature’s ‘Paris moment’: the adoption of the ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at COP15 in Montreal. The GBF brings all parts of societies together around a global nature-positive goal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. But nearly two years on from COP15, implementation of the GBF ‘s goals and targets have got off to a slow start - with some positive moves from both the public and private sectors, but not at the volume or speed required to meet the challenge.

Yet, only 44% of governments have  updated their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) or national targets, two years on from COP15. And while there have been some steps taken towards mandating nature-related disclosure for large businesses – most notably, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and China’s proposal to require listed companies to disclose nature-related information by 2026 – these need to quickly multiply to effectively implement Target 15 of the GBF.

Even more concerning is the fact that public subsidies and incentives that drive nature’s destruction are increasing, rather than decreasing.  Global environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS) are now worth at least $2.6 trillion a year – outweighing any effort to shift the economy towards nature positive, and raising the urgency to reform EHS as set out in Target 18.

Making sure businesses and financial institutions protect nature and restore degraded ecosystems, and aligning all financial flows towards a nature-positive future, are just two of the five policy asks that over 230 businesses with combined revenues of $1.7 trillion are urging governments to take in order to change the economic game in nature’s favor.

To complement these high-level recommendations, in collaboration with nearly 150 partners and companies, the Business for Nature coalition has developed 20 specific asks for governments which provide guidance on the policies needed to implement the GBF in a way that would generate accelerated business action on nature. These include measures such as banning land conversion in key protected areas, transitioning to regenerative farming models, and adopting a Global Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining.   

At the forefront of these forward-thinking businesses are 25 who have developed and published dedicated nature strategies through the ‘It’s Now for Nature’ campaign. By doing so, these companies – which include GSK, L’Occitane Group, Natura &Co, Rabobank and Chilean forest and paper company Arauco - are not only setting new standards of ambition and accountability for others to follow, but also moving towards meeting the changing expectations of regulators, investors and consumers.

Yet, while these efforts are encouraging and potentially catalytic, voluntary action on nature still lags far behind climate action, despite climate breakdown and nature loss being so closely linked.  In the latest findings from the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Nature Benchmark, only 5% of 816 companies reviewed demonstrate that they have carried out an assessment of the impact of their operations on nature. This is concerning, as this lack of understanding hinders a company’s ability to strategically manage and prioritize their nature-related actions.

Meanwhile, in line with the dangerous imbalance in public subsidies, the amounts of private finance funding activities that harm nature dwarf investments in nature conservation by a ratio of 143 to 1.

If COP15 set the right level of ambition for nature, COP16 must be all about action and collaboration.

Beside the urgent progress needed on delivering Targets 15 and 18, COP16 discussions must result in concrete steps being taken on crucial issues such as:

• resource mobilization - to scale up green finance and align both private and public financial flows to nature-positive outcomes, with a particular focus on increasing funding to developing countries and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities who are stewards of biodiversity hotspots;
• monitoring and review mechanisms – to allow consistent tracking of progress against the GBF’s targets through harmonized frameworks, provide regulatory certainty and ambition for businesses as part of NBSAPs, and align nature, climate and SDGs review mechanisms;
• access and benefit sharing - to effectively share the benefits from digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI), promote biodiversity conservation and facilitate private sector involvement.

Crucially, the message that business action is core to building a nature-positive world must be heard loud and clear, in Cali and beyond. This why we urge businesses of all sizes and sectors to show leadership by:

• embedding nature in all aspects of their decision-making and adopting credible nature strategies - using resources such as the Nature Strategy Handbook and the sector-specific nature-positive actions reports developed alongside WBCSD and the World Economic Forum , and which draw on guidance from the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and recommendations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD);
• encouraging policymakers to change the economic game in nature’s favor - from helping shape and deliver national plans and targets that clearly recognize, formalize and define the role of the private sector, to working with trade associations to back enabling sectoral policies;
• calling on other businesses in their sectors and value chains to act – for example by using materials from Business for Nature’s Business Action Narrative;
• and, of course, by actively participating in COP16 itself and championing ambitious collaboration during the conference – by attending bilateral meetings, events and workshops or through connecting with other stakeholders including cities, Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, academia and youth groups.

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Eva Zabey, Chief Executive Officer, Business for Nature 

 Eva leads Business for Nature, a global coalition that drives credible business action and policy ambition to achieve a nature-positive economy for all by 2030.  With a background in ecology, natural capital and environmental management, Eva is an experienced leader, facilitator, speaker, writer and media spokesperson. Prior to joining Business for Nature, Eva spent 15 years at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) leading projects on natural, social and human capital measurement and valuation. She was named by Reuters as one of twenty-five trailblazing women leading the fight against climate change, listed in the Independent's Climate 100 - the world’s foremost environmental changemakers - and named ‘Nature Champion of the Year' in the 2024 Women in Green Business Awards.