A UN-backed initiative is set to launch at this year’s COP16 biodiversity summit to scale business models with the potential to drive private investment in nature conservation, in areas that could include biodiversity credits.
The Revenues for Nature project, funded by the US-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will be led by the UK’s Green Finance Institute (GFI) in partnership with the UN Development Programme Biodiversity Finance Initiative and UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).
GFI said Revenues for Nature aims to advance efforts to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)’s target of mobilising at least $200 billion annually for biodiversity conservation by 2030.
Under the new initiative, a database will launch in October with details of nature-based revenue models that could contribute to increasing private-sector investment.
Furthermore, a community of practice of stakeholders, including the private sector, governments, investors and funders, and project developers, has been launched to “support shared learning for the replication and adoption of models and markets”, according to GFI.
Market-based approaches, such as biodiversity credits, will also be explored, it said in an advertisement for a UNEP FI job focused on Revenues for Nature.
The initiative will implement these models across a range of geographies and ecosystems, starting in March 2025.
Such models will be selected based on criteria that include high-integrity environmental outcomes and the engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, GFI added.
During this year’s UN biodiversity conference, to be held in Colombia over Oct. 21-Nov.1, much of the focus will be on finance, as countries are expected to ramp up efforts to plug the estimated $800 bln funding gap holding back the achievement of the GBF goals.
The summit could also carve out a role for biodiversity credits, with the UK-France led International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits poised to release a set of final recommendations with practical and actionable outcomes for the emerging market.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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