Opinion: Reviving the Momentum: Why Rome’s COP16 Session Must Deliver on Biodiversity Finance
By Sonya Likhtman – Associate Director – Federated Hermes Limited and Co-chair of the Public Policy Advocacy working group
The UN Biodiversity COP16 summit, which took place in October 2024 in Cali, Colombia, will reconvene at the end of February in Rome, Italy. This pivotal session will provide us with a critical opportunity to address the unresolved issues from Cali and to ensure that the ambitions of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) are translated into tangible action and successful implementation.
From Montreal to Cali: A mixed legacy
The GBF, adopted at COP15 in Montreal in 2022, set an ambitious agenda for halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. COP16 in Cali, dubbed the “People’s COP,” continued this momentum by emphasising inclusivity and public engagement. A new permanent body was established to include Indigenous peoples and local communities into biodiversity decision-making, acknowledging the critical role these communities play in nature conservation and the need to involve them in shaping future policy.
Parties at COP16 also reached a landmark agreement on the fair use and benefit-sharing of digital sequence information (DSI) through the creation of the Cali Fund. This breakthrough, which will require companies that benefit from research and use of genetic materials from nature to contribute to financing nature, marks a significant step forwards in global biodiversity efforts. It will create new pathways for financing nature protection and restoration, and support Indigenous peoples and local communities who safeguard vital ecosystems.
However, Cali’s achievements were overshadowed by significant shortcomings, namely:
- Lack of a Resource Mobilisation Strategy
Despite commitments to mobilise $200 billion annually for biodiversity conservation, no clear strategy was finalised, leaving a critical gap in financing mechanisms.
- Incomplete Monitoring Framework
The absence of a comprehensive monitoring framework undermines efforts to track progress and hold countries accountable for implementing biodiversity goals and targets.
Adopting a Resource Mobilisation Strategy that aligns financial flows with nature
A transformative shift in financial systems is required to address global biodiversity loss. According to the recent IPBES Nexus report, private financial flows investing in activities that directly harm nature amount to $5.3 trillion annually. These financial flows should instead be aligned with nature protection and restoration in order to sustain economies and societies over the long term.
Governments should therefore focus on implementing concrete actions to enable such an alignment of financial flows and close the nature funding gap. This means reducing private financial flows that are facilitating activities that harm nature across many economic sectors, and scaling up activities that support biodiversity.
Central to this will be the establishment of sectoral transformation pathways. By aligning the financial sector’s objectives with the goals and targets of the GBF, we can accelerate the shift towards an economic system that benefits both the environment and long-term economic stability.
Members of the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation’s Public Policy Advocacy working group have drafted proposed text for inclusion in the Resource Mobilisation Strategy to specifically address these challenges and maximise the impact that private finance can have on addressing nature-related risks and opportunities.
Securing a robust Monitoring Framework with meaningful indicators
The current indicators in the Monitoring Framework are insufficient to comprehensively assess countries’ progress in implementing the GBF. To address this, the framework must include clear, detailed indicators that measure the alignment of private financial flows with biodiversity goals and targets. They should track how governments are implementing and incentivising the alignment of financial flows, assess the implementation of nature-related disclosure requirements, and evaluate progress on mainstreaming nature in decision-making.
For Rome’s COP16 session, it is essential that negotiators finalise and adopt improved indicators to ensure transparency, enable consistent monitoring and create accountability for implementing the GBF.
Rome: Another chance to get it right
The Biodiversity COPs in Montreal and Cali laid the groundwork for progress, but without tangible action at the national level and concrete financing solutions, the GBF risks becoming another aspirational document. Rome’s COP16 session must seize this opportunity to finalise a comprehensive Resource Mobilisation Strategy and implement a robust monitoring framework.
The resumed session in Rome presents a pivotal moment for biodiversity finance. Governments, financial institutions, and other stakeholders must come together to ensure that the goals and targets of the GBF are not just promises but rather a roadmap to a sustainable future.