Biodiversity targets
August 25, 2023
Last year at the COP 15 Biodiversity Summit in Montreal, the world made a landmark commitment to biodiversity, with nearly 200 countries pledging to preserve at least 30% of earth’s land and water by 2030.
That agreement received a significant boost this week with the ratification of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund. On August 24 in Vancouver, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault and International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen, announced that Canada will contribute $200 million (CAD) to the Fund which will support the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect vulnerable species and habitats.
“The Kunming-Montreal agreement was a historic achievement and this funding is a serious commitment to begin the hard work of meeting these biodiversity targets,” said Ryan Riordan, Director of Research at the Institute for Sustainable Finance. “But there is also an instrumental role for the private sector here.”
The private sector will make a vital contribution to this agreement through aligning capital flows with nature-positive outcomes. Meanwhile, changes in the natural world such as land degradation and deforestation can also materialize as financial risks to business that will pass on to the financial system via loans, investments, insurance, etc.
Under Kunming-Montreal, nations pledged to “ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes… and, as appropriate, national accounting…” (Target 14). What gets measured, gets managed. And by taking natural assets into account, the public sector will be able to make more informed economic and environmental decisions.
To learn more about the value of natural assets and methods to evaluate nature-related risks and opportunities, check out ISF’s recent Natural Assets Primer Article.
The ISF, along with CPA Canada, is a Canadian co-convenor for the Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosures which will soon release its finalized recommendations for companies to disclose their impact on nature and biodiversity, and nature-related risks and opportunities. To learn more tune in to the TNFD launch webinar during New York Climate Week on Sept 19.
Media contact
David Watson, Associate Director, Communications
Institute for Sustainable Finance
613-796-3605