Romie Goedicke den Hertog’s Post

COP 16 Biodiversity is well underway and its prime impact is (should be) on policy worldwide. New and better policies around biodiversity. And hopefully science-based policies. But can we measure the impact of science on policy? One way is to measure the citations in policy documents to scientific publications - see the figure below. We see that biodiversity research has three times more impact on policy than research across all disciplines. Research from Europe and the US & Canada has the highest impact on policy while East Asia (mostly China) has the least impact on policy. More in the recent Elsevier report https://lnkd.in/eXNB8ztH #COP16 #biodiversity #COP16Colombia #GlobalBiodiversityFramework #BiodiversityResearch #COP16Cali #sustainabledevelopment #SDGs #CaliEsCOP16 Paola Barr Valeria Rinaudo Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz Dante Cid Bob Kreiken Jeanne Nel

The focus at #COP16 is on biodiversity finance. Our new paper emphasizes that it’s about more than just filling a funding gap—it’s about structural reform to align global finance with biodiversity protection rather than exploitation. As we enter the second week of negotiations at the biodiversity conference in Cali, there’s still uncertainty around securing the essential funding needed to protect and restore nature. The two most contentious issues at #COP16 —Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and resource mobilization— are both core to biodiversity finance and closely linked in the ongoing political discussions. Biodiversity finance can seem challenging, if not complicated. As the week starts, The Common Initiative is sharing this document, hoping it helps delegates and journalists for the week ahead.

🌍 #COP16: Today marks a critical moment for biodiversity!🌱 The ceremonial opening of the 16th Conference of the Parties under the Convention on Biological Diversity highlights the urgency of action. Following COP 15’s landmark adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), this two-week meeting in Cali is set to define the next steps toward the framework’s ambitious goals—protecting 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030, reducing harmful subsidies, and restoring degraded ecosystems. To support these efforts, IENE provides essential knowledge and resources, offering policymakers and stakeholders guidance on aligning infrastructure development with biodiversity goals. IENE’s expertise in transport infrastructure and biodiversity plays a key role in advancing nature-positive strategies. 📢Join us for an IENE panel discussion on "Enabling Nature-Positive Strategies in the Transport Sector," hosted by The Business & Finance Hub. We’ll be sharing insights from IENE’s policy briefs, initiatives like #Transport4Nature, #Act4Nature International, and the Playbook for Nature-Positive Infrastructure Development. 📅 Date: October 24, 2024  ⏰ Time: 9:00 – 9:45 AM (GMT -5)  🔗 More info: https://lnkd.in/enbDb9bf Nathalie Morata Rory Canavan Kate Newman Hélène Marotine

Advancing the cause of nature finance was one of three positive takeaways from the COP16 biodiversity summit, says Robeco's Climate and #Biodiversity specialist Lucian Peppelenbos, who attended the conference in #Cali, Colombia. Key outcomes included advancing national biodiversity targets, introducing a levy on profits from digital genetic information, and identifying critical marine areas. However, disagreements on mobilizing USD 200 billion for public finance hindered progress. Despite this, the conference highlighted growing business engagement in biodiversity, progress in nature data, and the importance of nature transition finance. The event underscored the need for policies and incentives to support nature conservation and transition efforts. Read the full article here: https://ro-be.co/2hrtea6f

⚠ The EU Commission's climate biodiversity nexus expert group just had its second meeting, and here is why you should be really concerned: - The goal of this meeting was to discuss proposed 'high integrity biodiversity requirements" (HIBR) for biodiversity co-benefits of the voluntary carbon market, that will be used as well for a future standalone EU biodiversity credit market. - First, we might ask whether it's a good idea to add biodiversity co benefits to a failed policy instrument such as VCM (see Verra scandal & others), that there is no intention of fixing (see ICVCM's greenlight of 98% of VCM, saying in essence everything is already high integrity). - The draft criteria themselves on permanence, leakage, measurable outcomes include a lot of vague language and a problematic reference in our view to "net positive" impact. - Also worth noting is the fact that the expert group tasked with defining these high integrity biodiversity criteria includes only 1 ecologist out of 20 participants. - Crucially these criteria do not include any explicit ban on offsetting nor on "net" positive or "net gain" which are other forms of offsetting, despite the wide scientific consensus that offsetting does not have integrity. This somehow makes sense because the whole points of biodiversity credits is to delay curbing loss in global north countries; also note that the EU commission is coordinating with IAPB & BCA, both supporting offsets.  - As the EU elections are approaching, it would be great to see political candidates take onboard this crucial topic for our future, before it’s too late & pilot markets trading permits to destroy nature are launched in Nov @ #COP16. Olivier De Schutter Marie Toussaint Manon Aubry Raphaël GLUCKSMANN RIMA HASSAN Aurore Lalucq Philippe Lamberts Carola Rackete  

On Environment & Biodiversity Day 12 at #COP29, we are pleased to share updates on BSI's Nature Investment Standards Programme. The biodiversity standard for nature markets (BSI Flex 702 v1.0) recently launched during #COP16 is now open for public consultation. This standard aims to: • Provide specifications for the supply of biodiversity benefits. • Support organizations in creating credible and impactful biodiversity projects. • Enhance transparency and trust in biodiversity markets. View the standard and participate in the consultation before 3 January here: https://bit.ly/3B05oyA Learn how our Nature Investment Standards Programme is driving positive change: https://bit.ly/3YXw1MO Read about the importance of setting standards for biodiversity markets in the recent Defra blog: https://bit.ly/3OnKr3C #BSIatCOP29 #COP29day11 #Biodiversity #NatureMarkets #Sustainability #EnvironmentDay #COP29

📣Samia Baadj is delighted to present the latest research paper of the Nature-finance stream of 2DII, in relation to the reduction of nature-negative investments. Recent COP16 and COP29 reminded us of the need to mobilize the financial sector further to achieve climate and nature goals. In relation to biodiversity, the Global Biodiversity Framework (adopted during COP15) had set the ambition to halt biodiversity loss by 2050. This ambition calls for a reduction of nature-negative investments and requires efficient mechanisms and tools to identify and monitor them. Is the European regulatory framework fit to reveal investments in activities harming biodiversity and support their reduction? Considering the Commission's plans to reduce burdens associated with disclosure requirements, how could the regulatory framework be improved to solve the information gap related to nature-negative investments and improve the utility of this information? A clue may be found in the Principle Adverse Impacts (PAIs) of SFDR. In this paper, we explore the hidden potential of PAIs for biodiversity. We investigate current gaps and inconsistencies in the PAI framework, and we shed light on the improvements that could turn PAIs into a strong regulatory tool to reveal and incentivize the reduction of nature-negative investments (notably through follow-up of transition strategies). Read more 👉https://lnkd.in/dNWkrACE 👏A special thank you to David Cooke and Lisa B. for your contributions to this work. #2DII #SustainableFinance #Biodiversity #Investors

Progress in developing and operationalizing the Monitoring Framework of the United Nations Biodiversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This new paper by Flavio Affinito from McGill University, including Jillian Campbell, Andrew Gonzalez and JNCC's Dr James Williams, calls for implementation of the framework to be resourced and on the scientific community to support indicator use and development. Implementation of the Monitoring Framework will provide an unprecedented view of the state of #biodiversity at the national level, which can be used to assess both national and global progress. https://bit.ly/3NilLJr #GBF #COP16 #COP16Colombia |

In 2010, CBD parties agreed to a set of twenty objectives, known as the Aichi targets (for the Japanese prefecture where the negotiations occurred). In the ensuing years, not a single target was achieved—a record of futility notable even in the voluminous annals of global environmental failure. Instead of slowing down, the destruction of nature has proceeded apace. But in 2022, the CBD parties agreed to the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a comprehensive blueprint with twenty-three targets often called the “Paris Agreement for nature.” Its most eye-catching provision is the so-called 30x30 commitment—a pledge by signatories to permanently protect 30 percent of their terrestrial and marine environments by 2030. https://lnkd.in/eMqjpSsd

The latest Environmental Finance's European Biodiversity Insight 2024 report, released ahead of COP16 Colombia, provides insights into the growing integration of biodiversity into financial markets. It highlights the rise of biodiversity bonds, as well as the growing interest in natural capital as an asset class🌿 Learn more👉 https://lnkd.in/dAhxeHTP #biodiversity #biodiversitybonds #financialmarkets