COP 15: the “Paris Agreement” for Nature?

As biodiversity is increasingly becoming a key topic of conversation among business leaders, Marie-Anne Vincent shares her six takeaways from COP 15 conference and what you can do to protect nature.

On December 19, 2022, a historic agreement was reached at COP 15: The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. 

Not everything is perfect, far from it, but the new global framework is a significant step towards protecting biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems by 2030. The devil is in the detail, and the effective implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework will need to be ensured. That said, let us welcome this historic news and be prepared to continue our efforts beyond COP15.

Here are my six key takeaways from the Kunming-Montreal Agreement:

✅ Putting nature on a par with climate

✅ The adoption of the 30×30 flagship targets for land and sea conservation and restoration by 2030

• 30% land and ocean protection target 

• 30% restoration target for land and marine ecosystems

✅ Phase out environmentally damaging subsidies by at least US$500B per year

✅ Establishment of a biodiversity fund of US$ 30B per year

✅ Development of Finance for biodiversity and alignment financial flows with Nature 

✅ Strong signal for businesses to act, assess, and disclose impacts, dependencies & risks

For many observers, the 30×30 flagship is the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris Agreement's target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To date, only 17% of land and 8% of sea is protected. 

1. A bit of context on Biodiversity 

🧐 What’s Biodiversity? 

Biodiversity is the diversity of the living:

• the diversity of species
• the diversity of ecosystems
• the genetic diversity (diversity within species)

🌏 What’s at stake for biodiversity?

• The 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) stresses that biodiversity loss must be halted and reversed by 2030 and brought on a path of recovery by 2050, to ensure future viability of our ecosystems. Such a step is vital to secure the ongoing security of investments around the globe. 

• A 2020 report from the World Economic Forum indicates that $44T of economic value, or over half of the world’s GDP, is moderately or highly dependent on nature, and therefore currently at risk as a result of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Unprecedented biodiversity loss, on the scale we currently face, would entail significant threat to global growth and financial security.

• The Living Planet Index determined an average decline of 68% in animal population sizes between 1970 and 2016 with some species groups and continents experiencing even greater loss.

🤨 What’s COP15?

• What? The 15th United Nations conference on biodiversity