Anne-Marie Bor of NextGreen looks back positively on the Biodiversity Summit in Montreal. In her coordinating role at the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, she participated in COP15 in Canada, together with colleagues Anita de Horde and Natacha Boric and a delegation of 26 international financial institutions. At the summit, more than 190 governments agreed to protect 30 percent of land and seas as nature reserves by 2030.

Halting the loss of nature

Important steps have been taken to preserve and restore global biodiversity. At the Biodiversity Summit, governments also agreed to align private and public financial flows with the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This means that investments and financial activities by governments and the financial sector must halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.

Assessing the impact on nature

In addition, private financing has been included as one of the solutions to finance the nature financing gap. Governments must also ensure that large and international companies and financial institutions provide insight into and report on their impact on and dependence on nature.

Major milestone

And that is a major milestone, says Anne-Marie. "This is good news for financial institutions that need information about the impact on and dependence on nature of the companies in which they invest. This will enable them to better align their financial flows with biodiversity goals and targets."

Involvement of financial institutions

Through the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge and Foundation, 26 financial institutions attended the biodiversity summit, the largest financial sector representation ever at a UN CBD COP. In addition to our progressive advocacy work with negotiators, we also launched the Nature Action 100 corporate engagement program together with partners and the Launching Investor Group. And our Impact Assessment working group launched the 'Act now! The why and how of biodiversity integration by financial institutions' guide for integrating biodiversity into financial products and activities.