At a global meeting on Biodiversity promoted by the UN, companies are calling for an increase in the proposed cut in funding for these projects, which currently stands at US$1.5 billion per year.
Companies want an even deeper billion-dollar cut in subsidies for projects that cause ecosystem destruction and biodiversity loss. This was the proposal presented by Business for Nature (BfN), a global organization that brings together the business sector and which in Brazil is represented by CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development), at the opening of the UN-sponsored meeting to discuss the new Biodiversity Framework, being held in Geneva, Switzerland. The current proposal under discussion is to reduce funding for initiatives that degrade biodiversity by US$1T4T each year, but the business sector wants the amount to increase.
Understanding that the transition to a greener economy necessarily involves nature-based solutions, Brazilian Marcelo Behar, vice president of Natura & Co., spoke on behalf of CEBDS and BfN. He cited a study by B Team and Business for Nature that indicates the world is spending at least US$1.8 trillion annually on key sectors, equivalent to US$21,300 of global GDP.
The UN-organized meeting discusses the new Biodiversity Framework, a document that will set global targets for preserving nature by 2030. The topic is being debated by 196 countries, including Brazil – the nation with the greatest biodiversity in the world.
"Companies themselves are calling for a robust review of subsidies. Furthermore, the business sector advocates for the adoption of actions to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and the definition of mandatory requirements for companies to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies, and to avoid direct negative impacts, halving indirect negative impacts," concludes Henrique Luz, technical coordinator representing CEBDS at the meeting.
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