COP16 should be our wake-up call

Two years since the historic Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted, COP16 underscored the urgent need for accelerated action and implementation by all parts of society. The lessons from COP16 must be a wake-up call: we won’t achieve the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework without urgently redirecting financial flows, subsidies and incentives towards nature-positive outcomes; ensuring every part of society is playing its part to the max; and holding ourselves to account to demonstrate progress. It was disappointing several negotiation items remain unresolved, meaning talks will continue next year at an interim meeting hopefully in February, either in Canada, Nairobi or another yet-to-be-agreed location.

The government of Colombia, and in particular Minister Susana Muhamad and her team, demonstrated leadership, humility, and hospitality as the COP16 Presidency. They deserve all the praise and recognition for their efforts, especially pushing for the theme of “Peace with Nature,” encouraging us all to focus on what we agree on (rather than what we don’t) and to build trust. The outcomes of COP16 do not rest on only one government, but all governments. We are collectively responsible and accountable for halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. It is worth reminding ourselves that although the negotiations may have stalled, politically nature is higher up the agenda than ever before - with six Heads of State attending the UN Biodiversity meeting for the first time and several finance ministers.

For those wanting a summary of the key outcomes negotiated, we recommend reading Conservation International’s six-page overview or for more of an in-depth read take a look at this summary by Carbon Brief.

COP16 was all about money

Nature underpins every aspect of our economy yet its value is not recognized or embedded in our financial system. COP16 was a missed opportunity to make more progress on addressing the biodiversity financing gap.

The Cali Fund / digital sequence information (DSI): The agreement reached at COP16 to set up the Cali Fund marks a significant milestone on the path to ensuring the benefits of nature from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) are valued and shared fairly. It is a positive step forward, despite being voluntary with a debated scope, in ensuring that businesses in specific sectors financially contribute when using nature, and in mobilizing private sector finance for nature conservation. Businesses are responsible for valuing nature, acting at scale and mobilizing meaningful finance to protect, restore and sustainably use nature and its resources. However, governments must now put in place the right measures and incentives to ensure this fund works effectively, is practical for business and truly benefits Indigenous People and Local Communities.

Closing the financing gap / resource mobilization: While there was broad agreement on the need to increase funding to secure the $200 billion needed annually by 2030 to support biodiversity efforts, progress stalled due to disagreements over a new financial mechanism. Some countries advocated for a new fund, while others expressed concerns about fragmentation given the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund already exists. No decisions were reached as the COP16 meeting was suspended due to the lack of quorum, so this will need to remain a priority going into the follow-up discussions next year.

Environmentally-harmful subsidies / Target 18: Much more needs to be done to address the escalating crisis we face, including the reform of environmentally harmful subsidies – estimated at a whopping $2.6 trillion / year – where not enough progress was made during COP16 despite efforts from many actors, including the Global Environment Facility. One key barrier to corporate action is that the economic system rewards short-term profit over long-term value creation – therefore unintentionally incentivizing and rewarding businesses to over-exploit instead of using those resources to support the transition. Business and finance must be part of the efforts to move away from environmentally harmful subsidies that skew resource allocation and distort prices. Like governments, they need to identify which subsidies they benefit from and engage with key stakeholders to develop a roadmap to redirect resources to the right places.

2. COP16 was all about people

COP16 succeeded in showcasing the power of cross-stakeholder collaboration. The Convention on Biological Diversity offers a unique platform to drive this transformation together through radical collaboration. To deliver on the Global Biodiversity Framework's targets and unlock significant financial resources, we must deepen collaboration between governments, businesses, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities at the center: A key agreement at COP16 recognized the leadership role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities through a new permanent subsidiary body under Article 8(j) of the Convention. This is a first. No other UN environmental process has such a dedicated, permanent body that will bring traditional knowledge from the world’s stewards of nature and this is a real bright spot from the negotiations that should be celebrated.

More business and finance participation than ever before: Business for Nature and its partners were central in driving business leadership and momentum at COP15 to call for an ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework. As governments focused on implementation at COP16, it was particularly important that we saw more representatives from business and finance who called for stronger regulations, policies and legislations in attendance – especially as they have a disproportionate responsibility to contribute to the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. It also signals that nature is now well established alongside climate on the corporate agenda. We can expect this momentum to continue on the road to COP30 in Belem, Brazil. There were many sessions to build capacity and learn from others – with a focus on getting more businesses to develop nature strategies and transition plans. We launched the Now for Nature Accelerator to work with business organizations to empower businesses to develop and publish credible nature strategies at scale. COP16 was also a moment to showcase the concrete sector-specific actions companies can and should take to contribute to delivering the Global Biodiversity Framework. However, voluntary action is not enough, which is why more than 230 businesses and financial institutions came to COP16 calling for renewed policy ambition on nature. While some opportunities were created, one critical area of improvement in the future will be to encourage even deeper cross-stakeholder engagement.

Going beyond the biodiversity bubble / mainstreaming: It is both promising and encouraging to see that mainstreaming biodiversity was back on the agenda at COP16, as this was a critical factor in the failure of the Aichi targets. 18 countries - led by Colombia and Mexico - formed a Mainstreaming Champions Group to embed the targets and goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework within and across all sectors of the economy. Parties also agreed on the need to share best practice and foster sector-specific communities of practice. This is a positive step towards ensuring the involvement of non-state actors, including business and finance, in the implementation of the GBF. We can expect more countries to join this group, and their initial focus will be on accelerating collective action, collaboration and maintaining momentum.

3. COP16 was all about the progress (or lack of)

In the run-up to COP16, our infographic already highlighted that while there has been some progress from policymakers and businesses since COP15, it is clearly not enough.

National implementation / NBSAPs: Out of the 196 signatories, 119 countries submitted their national biodiversity targets, and only 44 countries submitted their updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). The remaining ones will need to submit these “as soon as possible.” Despite some good implementation by a few countries and regions such as China, the EU, Colombia, Chile, Malaysia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico, there is a significant gap in the majority of countries to provide businesses with a clear roadmap. This is a missed opportunity as business action is essential to contribute to all 23 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework (see Business for Nature’s recommendations). This underscores the need for stronger collaboration, capacity building, and business engagement. At an official side event at COP16, Business for Nature and its national partners were proud to share learnings from our ongoing work in Colombia, Malaysia, South Africa and Chile to set up business-government dialogues to strengthen national plans. To date, Colombia already has a Business Action Plan as part of their NBSAP, Malaysia’s is expected to be launched very soon, and Chile is also about to finish theirs. South Africa is taking a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, has submitted draft national targets to the cabinet and is consulting with a wide range of businesses to get input for their NBSAP.

At COP16, Canada announced $3 million towards the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership . The Accelerator provides knowledge, technical and financial support to developing countries for the preparation and implementation of their national biodiversity strategies and action plans.

Corporate assessment and disclosure / Target 15: Of all the GBF targets that have national targets, Target 15 focuses on companies acting, assessing and disclosing on nature, and was covered by the lowest number of countries (80%). Implemented effectively (see Business for Nature’s recommendations), Target 15 has the potential to be transformative, but we need more collaboration across ministries and jurisdictions to develop effective policies and regulations that will mobilize the private sector to integrate nature into their decision-making and make it mandatory for them to assess, disclose and act on nature. During COP16, we saw many exchanges focused on sharing best practice and continued uptake (e.g. over 500 organizations are committed to voluntary reporting of their nature-related issues through TNFDs recommendations; SBTN announced the first companies – Holcim, GSK and Kering – to publicly adopt science-based targets for nature) and harmonizing metrics to help streamline decision-making and disclosure and strengthen accountability – worth noting are Nature Positive Initiative’s consultation on State of Nature metrics (open until 13 November) and WBCSD’s project to promote the harmonization of nature-related metrics used by corporations.

Integrating nature and climate: COP16 marked a significant moment on the need to bring the climate and nature agendas closer together. A strong and urgent open letter was delivered to Presidents Petro and Lula calling for an integrated approach to aligning NDCs and NBSAPs was signed by over 70 global leaders representing business, finance, science, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. By recognizing the synergies between climate and biodiversity, we can unlock transformative solutions that benefit both people and the planet. The emphasis on food systems is also crucial, as sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems are essential for a sustainable world.

The above summary, which is not exhaustive, clearly shows that COP16 had set an ambitious agenda and covered a wide range of critical pieces of the puzzle to halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. Despite this, it is clear that more work is needed to achieve the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. It’s a wake-up call for every one of us to scale and speed up exponentially so that we are back on track ahead of 2026 at COP17 in Armenia.

UN Biodiversity COP16: A step forward, but not far enough