WIREDGOV

Running from Wednesday the 7th of December to Monday the 19th, the UN is holding a conference on biodiversity. This COP15 conference is essentially biodiversity’s answer to COP27 in the climate movement. COP 15, taking place in Montreal, involves delegates from 196 countries with the aim of agreeing on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, aiming to end this decade with more nature, not less.

The draft Framework was published ahead of the start of the conference, with the key points as follows:

• Calls for urgent and transformative action by Governments and other stakeholders to set out targets and contribute to the objectives of the CBD.
• Assumes a whole-of-government and society approach is necessary to make the required changes over the next decade, stressing the need to internalise the value of nature and the cost of inaction.
• Calls for the mainstreaming of tools and solutions to reduce threats to biodiversity. This includes financial resources, capacity, and technology.
• Calls for a recognition of gender equality in the transition, as well as youth engagement and the participation of indigenous peoples in the implementation of the Framework

30x30 Goal

The flagship goal of COP15 is called the 30x30 target. This would require the protection of 30% of land and sea by 2030, a controversial target but one which would support the goals of the UN global climate targets too.

Areas of focus for this target are historically ‘stable’ carbon stores: Boreal Forest, and Peatlands. These biomes exist mostly in Russia, China, and the US. Globally important rainforests in the Amazon, Congo and Indonesia are also the target of 30x30 action. These equatorial biomes are partially covered by rainforest conservation goals set out by the ‘big three rainforest coalition’.

Issues

Although challenging, some argue that this target could be problematic even if successful, concentrating resource extraction even more intensely on unprotected areas. There are also worries the will to commit funds to conservation is lower during an economic downturn, while corruption remains a concern in the conversation around financing.

Like with climate, there are questions about the extent to which developed nations should pay poorer countries to protect their natural assets. A rainforest is, after all, an internationally important asset, despite being in a specific nation state. Countries in Europe who have long lost their own biodiversity and forests are likely to have to pay custodians to preserve their carbon stores if targets are to be met.  

Opportunities

Despite division over the 30x30 plan, there are many more green policies being advocated for in the COP15 agenda. There is significant interest from the business community and techUK identifies biodiversity as an opportunity for the tech sector to show leadership in solutions.

Although it is early days, techUK believes that there is both an appetite from large businesses to do more for biodiversity, and for new businesses to emerge to serve this appetite. New compliance regimes on biodiversity are also on the way, presenting new risks and opportunities for the tech sector.

Business community ‘Business for Nature’ is a group of high-profile companies strongly advocating for business participation in the COP CBD process, and the adoption of the framework by business leaders. L’Occitane Group and Mahindra group are key advocates, themselves representing significant resources to divert towards nature conservation.TNFD and Biodiversity Net Gain

Of the compliance regimes which will be implemented in the year following COP15, the most visible are the Taskforce for Nature-Related Non-Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regulation, part of the UK’s Environment Act (2021). TNFD aims to provide a framework for addressing environmental risk and channelling finance into positive action. BNG will mandate that companies grow biodiversity on operational sites over their lifetime by 10%.

These regulations and directives, though some way off now, will present opportunities for tech companies who can provide data to large MNCs and SMEs alike. Like anything, high quality data insights will be important in meeting these goals, and monitoring tech will be required to support data production.

For more information on techUK’s work on biodiversity, please get in touch with Craig.Melson@techUK.org or Adam.Young@techUK.org.