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14 December 2022

Press Release

For immediate release

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WWF and Aviva call on COP15 to set a ‘Paris-style’ global goal and help mobilise private finance to tackle the nature crisis

  • To mobilise finance, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) must set an ambitious ’Paris-style’ global goal for nature, say Aviva and WWF
  • Climate financing is much further ahead than nature financing, but the twin crises must be tackled together
  • Private finance can be unlocked to help restore the natural world with a seven-step plan that supports governments to set the right incentives

A new report from WWF and Aviva finds that the investment needed to protect and restore nature lags far behind action to attract climate finance.

Yet the science is clear: nature loss drives 23% of global climate emissions, and land and oceans absorb over half of all emissions.  The nature and climate crises drive each other and must be tackled together.

Published today, the Unlocking finance for nature report outlines a pathway to mobilise the private finance required to protect and restore nature, drawing on the lessons learned from climate action.

The seven-point pathway to mobile finance for the nature crisis is:

  1. A globally agreed nature positive goal at CBD COP15
  2. Measurable, legally binding, national nature goals aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)
  3. Globally agreed scenarios and sectoral pathways for key economic sectors, to achieve the Paris Agreement and the GBF
  4. Full alignment of multilateral and development finance with the goals of the Paris Agreement and GBF
  5. Clear targets, metrics and standards that are actionable and monitorable at company level
  6. Development national sectoral pathways and scenarios to achieve national goals on climate and nature
  7. Credible Nature and Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans to reach measurable, legally binding national level nature goals consistent with the GBF

Public finance alone is insufficient to tackle the scale of the nature crisis, which has seen a 69% drop in wildlife populations since 1970. The report outlines a similar approach to that adopted by the UN’s climate talks which mobilised financial institutions representing US$150 trillion in assets to commit to align to a net-zero climate goal.

WWF and Aviva are calling on the Parties to COP15 to agree ambitious global goals for nature and to mobilise finance to protect and restore nature.

Previous global nature goals have struggled to attract sufficient finance. Goals agreed at CBD COP15 will become meaningless unless they are backed up with policies and adequate finance to implement them.

Since the Paris Agreement, the rapid growth in efforts to align financial institutions with net zero - including WWF and Aviva’s successful calls for mandatory transition planning - shows that a policy architecture, consisting of binding global and national goals, measurable targets, and global and national scenarios play a critical role in private climate financing.

WWF and Aviva are calling for a similar pathway to be adopted for nature financing and integrated with the climate architecture where relevant. This will build confidence among investors and the finance industry at large about the direction of travel and catalyse economic policy to incentivise private finance.

Karen Ellis, WWF’s Chief Economist said: “At the moment a lot of global finance is bankrolling the destruction of nature. Our seven-point pathway seeks to align private finance with the new global goal we expect the CBD conference to announce in Montreal.

“Private finance can be unlocked to protect and restore nature, but the private sector cannot do this alone. A whole of government approach is needed, where policy, regulation and public spending create the right incentives, and consider climate and nature together.  That starts with clear targets and economic policies that give clarity to the finance sector.”

Paddy Arber, Aviva’s Group Head of Government Engagement - Sustainability, said: “We need the equivalent of a Paris Agreement for Nature - and global and national policy and regulatory frameworks to deliver it. Like the Paris Agreement, the one reached in Montreal must include measures on aligning financial flows with the goals of the agreement. Only then can domestic policy be shifted and private finance begin to align at scale.”

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

The report: Unlocking Finance for nature is at Unlocking finance for nature: learning from experience in driving climate action | WWF

Karen Ellis is attending COP15. If you would like to interview Karen, please contact Mike Eames mike.eames@wwf.org.uk or press@wwf.org.uk

The seven-step pathway needed to unlock private finance is:

1.     A globally agreed nature positive goal at CBD COP15, also broken down into a set of measurable global targets reflecting the multiple aspects of nature and including a clause calling for the alignment of financial flows to the framework, as an equivalent to Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement.

2.     A set of measurable, legally binding, national nature goals which are aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

3.     The establishment of globally agreed scenarios and sectoral pathways for key economic sectors, to achieve the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework by suitable international authorities.

4.     The full alignment of multilateral and development finance with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework and the use of all the instruments and levers within their armoury to support the transition at pace – at an international and national level.

5.     The establishment of clear targets, metrics and standards, consistent with the agreed global goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework, but actionable and monitorable at company level.

6.      The development of integrated national sectoral pathways and scenarios to achieve national goals on climate and nature, to which the private sector can align.

7.     Credible Nature and Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to reach measurable, legally binding national level nature goals consistent with the Global Biodiversity Framework. Nature and Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans should be translated into national level regulatory and fiscal policies, backed by financing plans, and developed in an integrated manner with national climate and adaptation plans – together creating incentives for private investment in a net zero and nature positive transition.

About Aviva

  • Aviva is the UK’s leading Insurance, Wealth & Retirement business and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in Singapore, China and India.
  • We help our 18.5 million customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
  • We have been taking care of people for 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2021, we paid £30.2 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
  • Aviva is a market leader in sustainability. In 2021, we announced our plan to become a Net Zero carbon emissions company by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. This plan means Net Zero carbon emissions from our investments by 2040; setting out a clear pathway to get there with a cut of 25% in the carbon intensity of our investments by 2025 and of 60% by 2030; and Net Zero carbon emissions from our own operations and supply chain by 2030.  Find out more about our climate goals at aviva.com/climate-goals and our sustainability ambition and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability
  • Aviva is WWF’s lead strategic partner in the insurance and pensions sector in both the UK and Canada.

About WWF

WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, active in nearly 100 countries. Our supporters – more than five million of them – are helping us to restore nature and to tackle the main causes of nature’s decline, particularly the food system and climate change. We’re fighting to ensure a world with thriving habitats and species, and to change hearts and minds so it becomes unacceptable to overuse our planet’s resources.

WWF. For your world.

For wildlife, for people, for nature.