CISL calls on ministers to make COP15 outcomes work for finance and business

During COP15 in Montreal local time Tuesday (14 December), as ministers join the crucial nature summit, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is calling for the final biodiversity framework to be fit for purpose to drive change in the global economy by sending the right signals to business and finance.

Eliot Whittington, Director of Policy, CISL said: “This summit needs to be a turning point in humanity’s relationship with nature and to do so it needs to kick off fundamental changes in the way the economy works. More and more businesses and financial institutions are realising how essential action on nature and biodiversity is, but they need governments to provide the right rules and incentives to solve market failures and make change possible.”

Target 15 of the CBD Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) calls for mandatory requirements for all large businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on nature by 2030. The World Economic Forum continues to highlight that loss, weakening and fragmentation of biodiversity pose huge threats to global and national economies.

Despite significant business progress on climate disclosure - with nearly 20,000 companies disclosing climate change data through CDP in 2022 - a 42% increase on 2021, the highest annual increase in almost a decade - only around 1,000 companies disclosed data on forests, a 20.5% increase on 2021. Almost 4,000 companies disclosed water security data through CDP in 2022, a 16% increase on 2021 disclosure data.

Eliot added: “To drive economic change, countries meeting in Montreal need to find the political will to agree both a clear vision for action on nature but also essential measures like shifting fiscal incentives and mandating better disclosure of business impacts and actions. This can be the start of a global transformation towards a new, nature positive economy – but only if the negotiations agree measures that unlock real change.”

Target 18 of the CBD calls for the removal and redirection of incentives harmful for biodiversity. Trillions of taxpayer money is spent harming the natural world, from timber-access roads to making fertilisers cheaper.

Grant Rudgley, Lead, Banking Environment Initiative & Nature-related Finance, CISL said: “Subsidies that harm nature are not in the interest of taxpayers or business.  Farming subsidies that ultimately undermine the health of soil, make farmers vulnerable and can drive up food prices.

“We need subsidies to be redirected over time toward the visions and needs of taxpayers, rather than increasing the vulnerability of families. We need environment and climate agendas that put the needs and aspirations of people first, and do not prop up the 20th century extractive economy. Getting a strong outcome in the GBF on this issue will help hardwire protection and restoration of biodiversity into our economic practices.”

CISL and many others are disappointed world leaders are not attending the COP15 biodiversity summit and are calling for heads of government to nonetheless give their ministers the mandate to drive ambition higher at COP15.

Clare Shine, CEO, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership: “We urgently need a ‘Paris moment for nature’, but we won’t get this unless world leaders step up to catalyse a breakthrough at COP15 in Montreal. Business and finance leaders need clear, consistent signals so they can act decisively to protect and regenerate nature. To release this huge potential for innovation and investment, governments must play their part and demonstrate the high ambition needed to launch a meaningful global deal for nature.”

André Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman, Roche Holdings said: "To get business to act in unison to protect and restore nature, we need strong, confident signals on targets, timelines and action plans. But so far these biodiversity talks are too slow and too quiet. We need world leaders ready to make calls and raise their voices if we're going to secure an ambitious global deal for nature that works for everyone. Progressive companies stand ready to hear from you and work together to make this happen."

CISL’s recent paper COP15 Briefing: Putting nature, wellbeing, and resilience at the heart of a new economic model calls on world leaders and governments to:

Tackle the nature and climate crises as one: We must set the bar high for meaningful action to achieve net zero while protecting and restoring nature. We must integrate nature loss risks into existing assessments of climate change risk and avoid unintended impacts of climate solutions upon nature.

Put nature at the heart of all policy and regulation: Governments must integrate nature into decision-making at all levels and be highly ambitious. This includes creating an enabling environment for business and finance to drive activities aligned with nature restoration and regeneration and acting to end the overexploitation of nature, particularly through the provision of harmful subsidies.

Embed nature in decision-making across business and finance: Economic and financial systems need to transform how they view and value nature. Businesses must seek to adopt a regenerative model for nature. At the same time, financial institutions should integrate nature into financial decision making to embed the logic of regeneration and support the transformation of the real economy.