Nature in the spotlight at UN Climate Conference COP26

It’s fair to say nature was a critical part of the discussions at COP26. Read Business for Nature’s highlights following two weeks of intense negotiations.  

COP26 President Alok Sharma gestures as he receives applause during COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow on November 13, 2021 [Phil Noble/ Reuters]

Last Saturday, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) wrapped up in Glasgow. The conference aimed to deliver concrete plans for the critical decade of action between 2021 and 2030 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C.  Along with world leaders, NGOs, businesses, indigenous people and youth activists, Business for Nature was on the ground with several of our partners, landing the message that we need to join forces and radically step-up efforts to tackle the intertwined challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality, and emphasizing that COP26 is a springboard for further policy ambition at the UN CBD COP15 next year.  

Encouraging signs of ambition, but more concrete actions needed. 

The Glasgow Climate Pact is an important step in keeping ‘1.5C alive’ with an unprecedented call to ‘phase down’ coal. While the wording might have been diluted in the final hour, the negotiated text provides a strong signal that the era of coal is ending and there is a window for countries to strengthen decisions in key areas like adaptation and climate finance. For the first time, the role of Nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation now features, along with crucial ocean-based action. Now governments must provide clarity on how they will implement these solutions to stay below 1.5C.  

For more detailed assessments on the climate-specific takeaways of what was agreed, take a look at these summaries from the We Mean Business Coalition and WBCSD. 

Our key takeaways 

The Business for Nature team in the Business Pavilion making sure nature sits firmly on the agenda at COP26.

Nature was everywhere. We heard an unprecedented number of announcements from world leaders, financial institutions and companies who united on a whole range of issues including deforestation, oceans and nature-based solutions.

Add in a huge amount of collaboration including a dedicated Nature Positive pavilion and newsroom, the launch of a set of integrated business climate-nature case studies and a set of nature-positive building blocks for business, this could have been ‘The Nature COP’. 

This provides a huge platform to build from going into the CBD COP15 negotiations early next year. We’re calling you – companies from around the world – to please add your support by: 

• Sharing your views before 22 November on the types of nature policies you think are needed to inform Business for Nature’s policy positions.  

• Expressing your interest before 3 December to join Business for Nature’s business delegation at the next UN CBD biodiversity event ahead of COP15 in Switzerland in January.  

• Continuing to raise your voice on nature by using our speaking points, and sharing content from our COP15 toolkit.  

Eva Zabey, Executive Director of Business for Nature interviewing business leader Paul Polman for the Nature’s Newsroom at COP26.

Finance, trade and subsidies featured heavily. We’ve seen more than $19 billion of public and private pledges for forests at COP26. While many stressed the importance of translating these commitments into action, overall, there was a real sense of hope that we might finally start to turn the tide on deforestation. 

A new Finance Sector Roadmap was launched to guide investors to do just this. 28 producer and consumer countries including Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil and Ghana also agreed to the new Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Roadmap for Action, which will accelerate sustainability in supply chains. And on trade, 10 companies – including Cargill, Wilmar and Olam – managing over half of global trade in key commodities committed to accelerating action on eliminating commodity-driven deforestation. There were also broader calls to reform and redirect all environmentally damaging subsidies, including in the agriculture and fishing sectors. 

Michael Ofosuhene-Wise, Climate & Nature Manager of Business for Nature speaking at the Russia Pavilion at COP26.

Positive signs emerge for greater corporate accountability. COP26 was a major step forward towards greater corporate accountability, transparency and aligned reporting standards. It is not a question about if a complete transformation of our economy will happen, but when, how fast and who will be part of the solution. 

Are you listening to the changing perspectives and demands of employees and consumers? If so, you stand to benefit. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) foundation announced a new International Sustainability Standards Board that will develop a set of disclosure standards for investors to help compare companies’ sustainability performance and related risks. Greater accountability is crucial to making sure commitments result in real action and impact on the ground.   

Lucy Coast, Communications Director of Business for Nature talking to indigenous activist Sam Sateremawe and Natura &Co's Andrea Alvares about business' role in protecting the Amazon rainforest.

Recognition on the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). Indigenous peoples and local communities are among the Earth’s most important stewards. They protect 80% of the biodiversity left in the world. Their leadership is key to the conservation and sustainable development of their own lands, as well as ecosystems globally.  

This has been one of the first COPs to progress the role of IPLCs with several governments and private funders pledging $1.7 billion helping Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) protect biodiversity in forests around the world.  While this was a welcome step, this announcement needs to be followed by concrete measures, including funding going to the right places and allocation of land rights.  

In summary, although COP26 gives many reasons to be optimistic, it is only the beginning of change in what is set to be a critical decade. As the US climate envoy, John Kerry put it: ‘COP26 is not the finish line’. The success of COP26 comes down to implementation and delivery alongside the willingness and courage of countries to come back next year with stronger national targets to close the gap towards 1.5C.  

More work is needed to simplify and converge the landscape for business to make sure that collectively, we have greater impact towards a nature-positive, net-zero and equitable future. Plus, governments must adopt and implement ambitious nature and climate policies to scale and speed up businesses action, including at next year’s Biodiversity COP15.   

Business for Nature stands ready to deliver a progressive business voice calling for decisive political leadership to halve emissions and reverse nature loss by 2030.