Over 15,000 delegates, including 10 heads of state, 100 environmental ministers, and over 1,000 accredited journalists, convened in Cali, Colombia for the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16).

While the Convention on Biological Diversity’s strategy comprises three main goals — conservation of species and ecosystems, sustainable use of natural resources, and shared use of the benefits of biodiversity — COP16 is most importantly a call to action, one that aims to turn ambitious commitments into tangible and impactful change.

The urgency is clear. But producing substantive results through implementation faces several challenges across the public and private sectors.

At COP15 in Montreal in 2022, participating nations agreed to a new global biodiversity framework, including setting goals to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.

This year’s COP seeks to measure progress on these frameworks. With the convention held in Colombia, policymakers and private sector leaders were confronted with the direct impacts of biodiversity loss. Colombia is among the most biodiverse countries in the world and home to over 10% of the planet’s biodiversity. Up to 38% of that biodiversity has material economic application.

Given the current state of global affairs, many question the integrity of such ambitious targets.

Private sector and global leaders alike have disregarded such initiatives as little more than a pipe dream. Elon Musk has cozied up Argentinian President Javier Milei, an unapologetically brash libertarian, and former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president in the November election. Both Milei and Trump have bashed efforts addressing climate, sustainability, and social impact concerns.

Musk’s vocal opposition to frameworks like ESG, which often align with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), creates discord and stunts the private sector’s efforts to set a standard on corporate ethics and sustainability. Musk’s claims like “ESG is the devil” contribute to the politicization of such frameworks, which can lead to corporate sustainability initiatives becoming conflated with institutional and government-level targets and financing goals.

Rich in resources

Rich in natural resources, Latin America is a specific focus at COP16. But the region is vulnerable to climate impacts, and exemplifies the dual narrative on adopting a transition economy. On one hand, the economic potential of green financing is immense. On the other hand, the region’s political divides pose a substantial risk to achieving a unified transition.

Argentina, for example, has one of the world’s largest natural oil and gas reserves. But the country faces challenges in advancing sustainability targets under Milei. The president decried the U.N. as a “Leviathan monster” at the General Assembly and accused the organization’s efforts of imposing a “socialist agenda.” He has dissolved the Ministry of Environment, granted tax benefits for fossil fuels, and significantly reduced state climate policy amid Argentina’s worst economic crisis in decades.

His efforts contrast sharply with Argentina’s neighboring economic giant: Brazil.

Home to over 60% of the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil reduced its forest loss by 36% in 2023 with robust legislation passed under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a staunch climate leader. Similarly, Colombia slashed its primary forest loss by nearly 50% in the same year.

While efforts by Brazil and Colombia are significant in the greater push toward achieving climate targets, they are the exception.

Political divergence in Latin America highlights obstacles in supporting global sustainability goals as the push-pull effects of conflicting policy risks stagnancy at best, and irreversible ecosystem degradation at worst.

While ideologies and actions are divided across both the public and private sectors, collaboration among the two is imperative in aiding this transition.

“For this conference to be a success, we need to see evidence that countries are stepping up and translating the ambitions of the Global Biodiversity Framework into action at the national level,” said Susan Gardner, Director of the Ecosystems Division at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The World Economic Forum’s New Nature Economy Report shows that embracing nature-positive transitions across socio-economic systems could unlock $10.1 trillion in business opportunities.

Money, money, money

While a clear effort to the commitments and resolutions adopted at COP15 in Montreal is visible, one may beg to ask the greater question: Where will the $200 billion come from?

Fulfilling these commitments will require contributions from multiple stakeholders. 

“No government can achieve this by themselves. We need to make sure that we walk hand in hand with other stakeholders,” Lucía Ruiz, director for conservation areas at the World Wildlife Fund, said on the World Wildlife Fund podcast ahead of COP16.

Among these stakeholders, the private sector plays a crucial role, particularly in terms of commitment and investment. In the private sector, commitment begins with disclosure. This year marks a watershed moment in aligning business’s actions with national strategies.

Over 500 companies have adopted the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework in 2024. 

The TNFD brings the private sector’s responsibility for combating biodiversity degradation to the forefront. These companies are taking action to assess, commit, transform, and disclose their impacts on nature, including at the sector level, by developing their own business-specific nature strategies. 

In line with the $200 billion per year target pledged by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) fund, these efforts reflect the private sector’s growing commitment to sustainable investment in nature conservation.

Despite backlash, progress will be driven by the multi-sectoral stakeholders gathered at COP16, working tirelessly to advance solutions for ecosystem degradation. 

As leaders in research, technology, and finance, their actions speak louder than the criticisms. Together, their efforts push beyond market pressures and political agendas to finance and secure a sustainable path forward for global biodiversity.

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