Ana Isabel Paraguay’s Post

Biodiversity Finance: Snapshot of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from 2020 to 2023 1. ⚠️THE BAD: 💸 2020 Biodiversity Funding:In 2020, we estimated the spending for global biodiversity conservation was between US$ 124 billion and US$ 143 billion, with a significant 80% sourced from domestic public sources. 🌏 Future Expenditure: For the decade 2020-2030, reversing the decline in biodiversity will require an annual global investment ranging from US$ 722 billion to US$ 967 billion. UN Biodiversity 💡 Financing Gap Challenge: This predicament leads to a biodiversity financing gap that averages US$ 711 billion annually or fluctuates between US$ 598 billion and US$ 824 billion each year. Global Canopy The Nature Conservancy The Paulson Institute Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability 👏THE "GOOD": 💡 Sustainable Debt & Biodiversity: 💰 Between 2015-22, nearly $1.3 trillion of green and sustainability bonds were designated for biodiversity activities, like forest conservation and nature-based solutions. This accounts for almost half of the bond issuance during this period according to BloombergNEF, though the actual amount spent on biodiversity was likely significantly less than 0.5% 📉 Recent Trends: A noticeable decline in biodiversity-related bonds was observed in 2022-2023 sustainable debt markets. Factors contributing to this drop include global economic challenges, rising interest rates, and increasing concerns about #greenwashing 🏛 Major Players: Over 2015-22, the government sector took the lead with 49% of biodiversity-related bond issuance, closely followed by the finance sector at 34%. 💡 Biodiversity-themed funds: 🌳 A recent MSCI Inc. study highlighted 149 biodiversity-themed funds worldwide, categorized based on their names and investment strategies. 💲 Impactful Insight: Funds explicitly named "biodiversity" have demonstrated, on average, a double sustainable-impact-solutions revenue exposure than their counterparts. 🔽 A Concern: Over time, biodiversity-labelled funds have yielded lower risk-adjusted returns compared to other thematic funds. There is not enough evidence of the actual direct impact on biodiversity conservation, underscoring the importance of disclosure of nature impact metrics and indicators, as promoted by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) 👎THE UGLY: 🔥 Subsidies Insight:In 2020, fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas received a jaw-dropping $5.9 trillion in subsidies, translating to about $11 million every minute, as detailed by the International Monetary Fund . Alarmingly, public funds over USD 1 trillion were funneled towards sectors that are harmful to biodiversity, which is 5 to 7 times the amount allocated for nature conservation OECD - OCDE . 🔥🔥🔥Fast forward to 2023, and the subsidies for fossil fuels and electricity have skyrocketed. The IMF reports that just over $7 trillion was allotted to fossil fuels, setting a decade-long record.

Finance for Biodiversity Foundation launches biodiversity-climate guide - The Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation has published a guide for financial institutions, explaining how financial institutions can manage biodiversity and climate nexus in their investments and lending. The guide, titled Unlocking the biodiversity-climate nexus, which was presented at the European Business and Nature Summit (EBNS) in Milan on the 11-12 October, was written by FfB Foundation’s Impact Assessment working group for bankers, insurers, asset managers and asset owners. The guide outlines the synergies and trade-offs between climate and investment and lending solutions. It acknowledges that these solutions – including agricultural, alternative energy sources, circular economy and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) – are key to solving the climate crises. The guide provides five key recommendations to financial institutions to assist them in assessing their biodiversity impact, and therefore reducing it. These are: Finance synergy-generating solutions for the biodiversity and climate nexus Identify and prioritise sectors with a high impact on biodiversity and climate Engage with companies on nexus topics by utilising existing frameworks Set up sector policies, acknowledging synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity and climate Integrate biodiversity into climate targets, policy and reporting Destruction of nature At a session at the event, Florika Fink-Hooijer, director general of the environment department of the European Commission, discussed how the loss of nature has impacted the economy and the volatility of social systems. “The increased cost in liabilities in environmental degradation, soil erosion, water pollution are equidistant functionalities. This means that if they fail to be maintained, the global economy would risk losing around $5trn a year from the loss of these natural services. “I don’t want to monetise nature, but we need to understand the real value of nature.” As the conversation continued among panellists, Frank Elderson, member of the executive board and vice-chair of the supervisory board of European Central Reserve, echoed Fink-Hooijer’s statements: “Destroy nature, destroy the economy.” This is supported by research conducted by European Central Bank (ECB) on the exposure of firms to nature-related services, which found that “72% of firms depend on at least one or more nature-related services”, Elderson claimed. The nexus guide hopes to “utilise renewable energy, taking a results-based approach to help financial institutions mitigate trade-offs and exploit synergies”, its authors write. One of the authors, and head of group strategy and ESG at UniCredit, Fiona Melrose, said: “Addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss can no longer be postponed. The economy must profoundly rethink certain paradigms to be truly sustainable, and financial institutions have their part to pla

Finance for Biodiversity Foundation launches biodiversity-climate guide - The Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation has published a guide for financial institutions, explaining how financial institutions can manage biodiversity and climate nexus in their investments and lending. The guide, titled Unlocking the biodiversity-climate nexus, which was presented at the European Business and Nature Summit (EBNS) in Milan on the 11-12 October, was written by FfB Foundation’s Impact Assessment working group for bankers, insurers, asset managers and asset owners. The guide outlines the synergies and trade-offs between climate and investment and lending solutions. It acknowledges that these solutions – including agricultural, alternative energy sources, circular economy and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) – are key to solving the climate crises. The guide provides five key recommendations to financial institutions to assist them in assessing their biodiversity impact, and therefore reducing it. These are: Finance synergy-generating solutions for the biodiversity and climate nexus Identify and prioritise sectors with a high impact on biodiversity and climate Engage with companies on nexus topics by utilising existing frameworks Set up sector policies, acknowledging synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity and climate Integrate biodiversity into climate targets, policy and reporting Destruction of nature At a session at the event, Florika Fink-Hooijer, director general of the environment department of the European Commission, discussed how the loss of nature has impacted the economy and the volatility of social systems. “The increased cost in liabilities in environmental degradation, soil erosion, water pollution are equidistant functionalities. This means that if they fail to be maintained, the global economy would risk losing around $5trn a year from the loss of these natural services. “I don’t want to monetise nature, but we need to understand the real value of nature.” As the conversation continued among panellists, Frank Elderson, member of the executive board and vice-chair of the supervisory board of European Central Reserve, echoed Fink-Hooijer’s statements: “Destroy nature, destroy the economy.” This is supported by research conducted by European Central Bank (ECB) on the exposure of firms to nature-related services, which found that “72% of firms depend on at least one or more nature-related services”, Elderson claimed. The nexus guide hopes to “utilise renewable energy, taking a results-based approach to help financial institutions mitigate trade-offs and exploit synergies”, its authors write. One of the authors, and head of group strategy and ESG at UniCredit, Fiona Melrose, said: “Addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss can no longer be postponed. The economy must profoundly rethink certain paradigms to be truly sustainable, and financial institutions have their part to pla

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Roberto Vigotti highlights why Africa is important in the global green energy transition. Despite contributing only 3.8% to global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa faces 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. So, countries like Ethiopia and Kenya are implementing sustainable farming practices and technologies such as conservation agriculture and drip irrigation to adapt. Innovative tech, like Ugandan remote sensing app "Raintracker" is a key example, to be used as aid in disaster management. Technology is crucial for companies investing in Africa, with initiatives like the $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund supporting AI research labs. Vigotti emphasizes the transformative potential of technology in sectors like agriculture, energy, and transportation for long-term sustainability. What should other continents do in response to this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! 📬 Stay ahead in sustainability & energy. Join our weekly TOP10 newsletter. Sign up: https://lnkd.in/dTdMp9j #africa #climatetechnology #climatechange #illuminemvoices

Accelerating Climate Adaptation via Meso-level Integration (ACAMI) is an innovative 2 year transdisciplinary project focusing on the roles and functions of public, private, and non-profit organizations involved in implementing climate change adaptation interventions intended to benefit agricultural small-scale producers in Africa. These organizations are critical intermediaries between small-scale producers and the policy, scientific, and finance communities. They thus have a significant impact on adaptation through the diverse knowledge they integrate, the decisions they make, and the resources they provide. ACAMI aims to create tools and approaches that help ensure that the diverse roles, capacities and functions of these organizations are leveraged effectively in support of more resilient and sustainable livelihoods for the men and women in farming communities across Africa. The interdisciplinary project team includes researchers from Arizona State University, the African Climate & Development Initiative (University of Cape Town), the University of Illinois Chicago, CIRAD (Centre interprofessionnel de mesure d’audience radio) in France, the Africa Research and Impact Network in Kenya as the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions. https://lnkd.in/dy4MTV6N

Flagship Initiative Tracks Nature Opportunities - Stewardship, emerging markets and supply chains will be key areas of focus within Greening Finance for Nature.  To better incorporate nature into their financial decision-making, investors need to broaden their understanding of the scope of investment opportunities alongside risks.  This is according to Dr Nicola Ranger, Head of the Resilience and Development Programme at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI).  Ranger is leading the work on the new Greening Finance for Nature initiative, a £7 million (US$8.8 million) programme funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.  The initiative describes its vision as build national capability bridging scientific, finance, policy and third-sector communities, harnessing science to enable the greening of finance for nature and mobilisation of capital for nature recovery.   This is one of three flagship schemes that were allocated government funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, as part of the Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Programme (IFB) launched in April 2023. The IFB also includes the Financing Green Sector Transitions and the Financing Biodiversity initiatives.  While phase one of the latest scheme focused on understanding nature-related risks and how they can inform risk assessments and strategic asset allocations, phase two will involve a more comprehensive look at investment opportunities and how nature feeds into financial decision-making, such as stewardship.  “If we are going to meet the nature goals outlined by the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), we can’t just finance different conservation projects,” said Ranger. “Investors have to look at transitioning whole sectors, investing in industries so they are more sustainable.” A whole range of investment opportunities exist within that, she explained. As such, phase two of the initiative will be assessing potential nature-related investments across emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).   “A lot of the natural world we want to preserve is based in these areas, which brings many other issues for investors and financial institutions to consider,” Ranger added.  Team work   The initiative, the ECI has been working alongside the European Commission to examine what governments could do to unlock finance flows into protecting and restoring nature and supporting the climate transition in EMDEs. A report summarising their findings is expected next month.  On stewardship, the ECI worked with UK NGO ShareAction to consider how nature-related themes could be brought into investor engagement efforts going forward.  “We will also consider how nature is brought into ESG metrics and issues around representing nature in taxonomies,” said Ranger.  The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2023 ‘State of Finance for Nature’ report sugg

Flagship Initiative Tracks Nature Opportunities - Stewardship, emerging markets and supply chains will be key areas of focus within Greening Finance for Nature.  To better incorporate nature into their financial decision-making, investors need to broaden their understanding of the scope of investment opportunities alongside risks.  This is according to Dr Nicola Ranger, Head of the Resilience and Development Programme at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI).  Ranger is leading the work on the new Greening Finance for Nature initiative, a £7 million (US$8.8 million) programme funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.  The initiative describes its vision as build national capability bridging scientific, finance, policy and third-sector communities, harnessing science to enable the greening of finance for nature and mobilisation of capital for nature recovery.   This is one of three flagship schemes that were allocated government funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, as part of the Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Programme (IFB) launched in April 2023. The IFB also includes the Financing Green Sector Transitions and the Financing Biodiversity initiatives.  While phase one of the latest scheme focused on understanding nature-related risks and how they can inform risk assessments and strategic asset allocations, phase two will involve a more comprehensive look at investment opportunities and how nature feeds into financial decision-making, such as stewardship.  “If we are going to meet the nature goals outlined by the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), we can’t just finance different conservation projects,” said Ranger. “Investors have to look at transitioning whole sectors, investing in industries so they are more sustainable.” A whole range of investment opportunities exist within that, she explained. As such, phase two of the initiative will be assessing potential nature-related investments across emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).   “A lot of the natural world we want to preserve is based in these areas, which brings many other issues for investors and financial institutions to consider,” Ranger added.  Team work   The initiative, the ECI has been working alongside the European Commission to examine what governments could do to unlock finance flows into protecting and restoring nature and supporting the climate transition in EMDEs. A report summarising their findings is expected next month.  On stewardship, the ECI worked with UK NGO ShareAction to consider how nature-related themes could be brought into investor engagement efforts going forward.  “We will also consider how nature is brought into ESG metrics and issues around representing nature in taxonomies,” said Ranger.  The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2023 ‘State of Finance for Nature’ report sugg

Flagship Initiative Tracks Nature Opportunities - Stewardship, emerging markets and supply chains will be key areas of focus within Greening Finance for Nature.  To better incorporate nature into their financial decision-making, investors need to broaden their understanding of the scope of investment opportunities alongside risks.  This is according to Dr Nicola Ranger, Head of the Resilience and Development Programme at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI).  Ranger is leading the work on the new Greening Finance for Nature initiative, a £7 million (US$8.8 million) programme funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.  The initiative describes its vision as build national capability bridging scientific, finance, policy and third-sector communities, harnessing science to enable the greening of finance for nature and mobilisation of capital for nature recovery.   This is one of three flagship schemes that were allocated government funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, as part of the Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Programme (IFB) launched in April 2023. The IFB also includes the Financing Green Sector Transitions and the Financing Biodiversity initiatives.  While phase one of the latest scheme focused on understanding nature-related risks and how they can inform risk assessments and strategic asset allocations, phase two will involve a more comprehensive look at investment opportunities and how nature feeds into financial decision-making, such as stewardship.  “If we are going to meet the nature goals outlined by the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), we can’t just finance different conservation projects,” said Ranger. “Investors have to look at transitioning whole sectors, investing in industries so they are more sustainable.” A whole range of investment opportunities exist within that, she explained. As such, phase two of the initiative will be assessing potential nature-related investments across emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).   “A lot of the natural world we want to preserve is based in these areas, which brings many other issues for investors and financial institutions to consider,” Ranger added.  Team work   The initiative, the ECI has been working alongside the European Commission to examine what governments could do to unlock finance flows into protecting and restoring nature and supporting the climate transition in EMDEs. A report summarising their findings is expected next month.  On stewardship, the ECI worked with UK NGO ShareAction to consider how nature-related themes could be brought into investor engagement efforts going forward.  “We will also consider how nature is brought into ESG metrics and issues around representing nature in taxonomies,” said Ranger.  The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2023 ‘State of Finance for Nature’ report sugg

In their 2024 Outlook for Sustainability and Impact Investing Cambridge Associates published an article, Fundraising by Natural Capital Strategies Should Hit a Record High in 2024. This includes #sustainable #agriculture, #forestry, #oceans and fresh waters, and other ecosystem services. Bowersox Innovation Group has a rich pipeline of #afforestation and #reforestation projects that bolster the findings in this report. We help #investors navigate these opportunities and leverage them into their #portfolios. https://lnkd.in/eueXfk55 #sustainability #portfoliostrategy #renewables #sdgs #sdg #impactinvesting #impactinvestment #esg

Finance for Biodiversity Foundation launches biodiversity-climate guide - The Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation has published a guide for financial institutions, explaining how financial institutions can manage biodiversity and climate nexus in their investments and lending. The guide, titled Unlocking the biodiversity-climate nexus, which was presented at the European Business and Nature Summit (EBNS) in Milan on the 11-12 October, was written by FfB Foundation’s Impact Assessment working group for bankers, insurers, asset managers and asset owners. The guide outlines the synergies and trade-offs between climate and investment and lending solutions. It acknowledges that these solutions – including agricultural, alternative energy sources, circular economy and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) – are key to solving the climate crises. The guide provides five key recommendations to financial institutions to assist them in assessing their biodiversity impact, and therefore reducing it. These are: Finance synergy-generating solutions for the biodiversity and climate nexus Identify and prioritise sectors with a high impact on biodiversity and climate Engage with companies on nexus topics by utilising existing frameworks Set up sector policies, acknowledging synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity and climate Integrate biodiversity into climate targets, policy and reporting Destruction of nature At a session at the event, Florika Fink-Hooijer, director general of the environment department of the European Commission, discussed how the loss of nature has impacted the economy and the volatility of social systems. “The increased cost in liabilities in environmental degradation, soil erosion, water pollution are equidistant functionalities. This means that if they fail to be maintained, the global economy would risk losing around $5trn a year from the loss of these natural services. “I don’t want to monetise nature, but we need to understand the real value of nature.” As the conversation continued among panellists, Frank Elderson, member of the executive board and vice-chair of the supervisory board of European Central Reserve, echoed Fink-Hooijer’s statements: “Destroy nature, destroy the economy.” This is supported by research conducted by European Central Bank (ECB) on the exposure of firms to nature-related services, which found that “72% of firms depend on at least one or more nature-related services”, Elderson claimed. The nexus guide hopes to “utilise renewable energy, taking a results-based approach to help financial institutions mitigate trade-offs and exploit synergies”, its authors write. One of the authors, and head of group strategy and ESG at UniCredit, Fiona Melrose, said: “Addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss can no longer be postponed. The economy must profoundly rethink certain paradigms to be truly sustainable, and financial institutions have their part to pla