COP16: Key Agreements Made in Rome

As part of its Roadmap to COP30, Climate Action will be providing round the clock coverage and updates on developments in addressing nature degradation. 

The State of Play 

Wildlife populations have declined by almost three-quarters since 1970, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Outside of its own intrinsic value, biodiversity is essential to human survival and well-being, providing critical ecosystem services that sustain life. The concept of nature as infrastructure emphasises that natural ecosystems function as foundational systems, essential to building a more resilient and sustainable future. Recognising and valuing these natural assets is critical to long-term climate and societal resilience. 

In December, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published the Assessment Report on the Interlinkages Among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health. The report highlights that more than half of global gross domestic product – around $58 trillion of annual economic activity around the world – is moderately to highly dependent on nature. It also estimates an annual financing gap of up to $1tn for biodiversity, while public subsidies of up to $1.7tn incentivise biodiversity loss, distorting trade and increasing resource pressure. The adverse economic impacts of biodiversity loss are higher in developing countries, where there are also higher barriers to mobilising sustainable financial flows. Therefore, reaching an agreement on biodiversity finance is paramount for ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. 

Implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework 

At the CBD COP15 in 2022, almost 200 countries agreed to halt and reverse the global decline in biodiversity through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), establishing four goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030. This included 

• Target 2: Restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems by 2030 
• Target 3: Conserve 30% of land, waters and seas by 2030 
• Target 19: Mobilise $200bn per year for biodiversity from all sources, including $30bn through international finance 

The GBF Fund was ratified by 186 countries and launched at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on 24 August, 2023. It is dedicated to scaling up financing to support the implementation of the GBF up until 2030.  

Progress followed at COP16 in Colombia, with historic commitments surrounding the rights, centrality, and effective participation of indigenous peoples within conservation efforts and the CBD. A subsidiary body was established on Article 8(j) of the Convention, giving Indigenous and local communities a permanent voice within negotiations, along with a decision highlighting the role of people of African descent. 

Countries also agreed on the Cali Fund, a financial mechanism funded by companies that use digital sequence information (DSI) from genetic biodiversity resources in their products, for instance pharmaceuticals and biotech. 

Pledges from developed countries to the GBF Fund almost doubled to around $396mn, although this was still below 2% of what developed countries promised to contribute by the end of 2025. Developing countries voiced anger over the suitability of the fund sitting with theGEFbut no new fund or institution was agreed upon. 

Negotiations around financing nature was ultimately what led to the conference being suspended, with little progress on the $200bn per year needed by 2030. Outstanding issues included a strategy to mobilise these funds, as well as a system to monitor and report on key targets, bridging the gap between ambition and on-the-ground action. 

Continued Negotiations in Rome 

Despite a challenging global climate for cooperation, continuing disagreements, and a general feel that not enough is being done, more than 140 countries managed to agree on a set of measures aimed at mobilising $200bn annually by 2030, late on Thursday night in Rome. 

- Resource Mobilisation 

Parties adopted a Strategy for Resource Mobilisation, identifying important guidance, mechanisms, and institutions needed to scale up resource from all sources, for the implementation of the GBF. The strategy will look to “close the biodiversity finance gap and achieve the target of mobilizing at least 200 million dollars a year by 2030, including 20 billion USD a year in international flows by 2025”. 

The agreement highlighted the need for subsidy identification and reform, as well as “innovative schemes” such as debt-for-nature swaps and biodiversity offsets. Parties also requested a better system for dialogue between Ministers of Finance and Environment from developed and developing countries, to help catalyse finance flows and resource mobilisation. 

Parties failed to decide on establishing a replacement for the GBF Fund, but a roadmap was agreed to review this, with a final decision due at COP18 in 2028. This has been a longstanding issue for developing countries and signals that progress is being made, albeit not quick enough. However, the importance of a process that establishes a permanent financial mechanism beyond 2030 must not be underestimated, especially with recent news surrounding the USAID freeze and a cut of the international development budget in the UK. 

- Monitoring & Review 

Parties adopted a thorough framework for planning, monitoring, reporting and review (PMRR) of the GBF, deemed essential for measuring and tracking progress against the 23 targets and four goals. This includes standardised headline indicators and guidance for how countries should develop their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), of which the UK just released late. This will enable data to be efficiently aggregated, allowing for global-level analysis and response. The hope is that this will spur the release of NBSAPs, with three-quarters of countries yet to publish, including the Climate COP30 hosts Brazil, and CBD COP17 hosts Armenia. 

Parties also made important decisions on how progress of the GBF will be reviewed at COP17 in Armenia, as part of the Global Stocktake. This included agreement on “the way in which commitments from actors other than national governments can be included in the PMRR Mechanism – including commitments from youth, women, indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, the private sector and sub-national governments”. 

- Collaboration 

Lastly, parties agreed to develop the processes with which the Convention cooperates and articulates with “stakeholders, Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and other organizations” such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This built on a key theme that arose in Cali: protecting biodiversity goes hand in hand with addressing other global challenges and achieving sustainable development goals. 

COP16 President Susanna Muhamad commented “We appreciate the willingness of all countries and the Secretariat of the Convention for their dedication to continue strengthening the global biodiversity agenda.  Only by working together can we make Peace with Nature a reality.”

“We are pleased that an agreement has been reached at the resumed session of COP16 and that the Resource Mobilisation Strategy has finally been adopted. The finalisation of the Monitoring Framework ensures much-needed transparency and accountability,” said Anita de Horde, Executive Director of the Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation. “As we approach COP17 in 2026, governments must demonstrate concrete progress in aligning financial flows with biodiversity goals, setting the foundation for ambitious implementation.” 

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Notes

Climate Action is delighted to launch the Climate Action Nature Series, which will build critical momentum in the nature and biodiversity space, ahead of and during COP30 in Brazil. The inaugural event in the Nature Series will be the Nature Finance Forum Europe (NFF-EU), co-located with the 8th annual edition of the Sustainable Investment Forum Europe in Paris on 28th April. 

Download the Nature Finance Forum Europe agenda here. 

Tying in Climate Action’s event milestones, the Climate Action Coalition’s Nature & Biodiversity Taskforce will explore the integration of biodiversity and nature into climate change policies, strategies and actions. The Taskforce will support the pivot to nature-positive land use, bringing together stakeholders to explore and progress credible, ambitious opportunities and pathways forward. 

Find out more here: Nature & Biodiversity Taskforce - Climate Action Coalition