Road

to COP 15: aligning business

action with the Post-2020 Global
Biodiversity Framework and 2030
Action Targets
Growing awareness and collaboration for a nature-positive world has contributed to building
business confidence to halt and reverse nature loss, delivering tools and guidance to help on
implementation and action within operations and across value chains.

Published: 29 Jun 2022

Author: Maria Ana Campos
Type: Insight
Over the last two years we have seen significant engagement from 1,100 companies who are
advocating for a nature-positive world, and hundreds of leading companies making commitments
and applying available tools and data to help implement and deliver the relevant targets included in
the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). One piece of good news is there are more
targeted resources on the way to support business implementation, such as the Science Based Targets
Network (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). While the Paris-
equivalent global policy process for nature has been delayed, there is a clear direction of travel for the
Post-2020 GBF.
Last week, policymakers met in Nairobi, Kenya, to continue the negotiations as part of the Open-Ended
Working Group 4 (OEWG-4) on the Post-2020 GBF. There continues to be frustration at the slow
pace of negotiations, with five months remaining until COP 15, there are many issues to be resolved
and much work to be done in finalizing the 22 targets of the GBF (an additional target on gender
inclusion was added in Nairobi). High-level political engagement is required in the run-up to and at
COP15 if an ambitious agreement is to be adopted by member states.

COP 15 is now set to take place at the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (SCBD) in Montreal, Canada from 5 to 17 December 2022. As COP 15 President, China will
continue to preside over the Meetings, with the logo and the theme of COP 15 maintained. China will
also convene the High-Level Segment and lead the facilitation of negotiations. Read more about
this announcement.

Member states will adopt the Post-2020 (GBF) at COP 15, which will hopefully provide a clear direction
and strong signal on the need to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, in line with the Global Goal for
Nature. While this Global Goal sets the trajectory at a systems level, work still needs to be done to
unpack how the goal translates for business. In March this year, during another round of CBD
negotiations (OEWG-3) in Geneva, WBCSD and Business for Nature, hosted a multi-
stakeholder roundtable focused on the business implementation of the Post-2020 GBF [1]. Here
we set out how business can play a role in delivering some of the key targets in the framework.

Target 1 – Spatial planning: Delivering on global goals on climate and nature is ultimately a case of
resolving competing interests for land. Spatial intelligence can play a critical role in supporting national
spatial planning processes. It can help businesses assess their existing footprint, commit to robust
‘nature-positive’ targets and transform their value chains to deliver on their commitments. This SPACES
discussion, jointly facilitated by UNEP-WCMC and Systemiq ignited the development of a whitepaper
(forthcoming) highlighting the principles, barriers that hinder and actions that can drive the use of spatial
intelligence.

Target 7 – Pollution: The GBF targets 3 main sources of pollution, including plastics, pesticides and
herbicides [2]. Plastic pollution is one of the drivers of nature loss. Every year 300 million tons of plastic
waste are produced, with only 9% of today’s plastic waste being recycled. Of these, 11 million tons end
up in the ocean annually, and plastic leakage into ocean is expected to triple by 2040. WBCSD is
engaged and contributes to the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution process by emphasizing the need to
develop a global plastic disclosure and reporting framework, increasing the understanding of
sustainability (incl. circularity) based on the SPHERE framework and showcasing business solutions to
this particular challenge.

Target 8 – Nature-climate nexus: Nature plays an important role in the carbon cycle by removing and
storing carbon; subsequently restoring a nature positive environment will also play a critical role in
addressing the climate crisis. Put simply, without achieving a nature-positive world by 2030 we also
cannot achieve net zero by 2050 and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Businesses can benefit
from guidance on the role that Natural Climate Solutions can play, and in particular how the use of
NCS in value chain decarbonization and as voluntary carbon credits can greatly enhance their support
to reduce the climate as well as biodiversity crises. It covers issues related to, core benefits beyond
carbon and standards for NCS credits (this work is part of the Nature & Nature-based Solutions project
and the NCS Alliance both at WBCSD).

Target 15 – Role of business: There was significant momentum in favor of mandatory requirements
for businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on
nature. Countries also agreed to “take legal, administrative or policy measures” for business and
financial institutions to act. The need for business and financial institutions to reduce their negative
impacts on nature by at least half and increase positive impacts was also supported by many countries
during the negotiations but will need further discussion in Montreal. Following work in 2021 on breaking
down what nature-positive means for business, WBCSD is developing sectoral roadmaps (forestry,
agriculture, built environment, energy) to help companies understand what nature positive means for
their sector and break down key actions across the "high-level actions" businesses need to consider
to address nature loss. These Roadmaps include guidance on assessing dependencies, measuring
impacts and tracking efforts to halt and reverse nature loss across the value chain.

Target 18 – Subsidies: Recent estimates show that environmentally harmful subsidies represent at
least USD$1.8 trillion annually. To reform, redirect or eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies,
the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) will look at unlocking subsidies in the context of
agricultural value chains. This project will identify and share credible examples of how harmful
subsidies can be repurposed.

Leading businesses are not waiting for absolute certainty. They recognize that action on nature is
needed now. The SBTN has set out interim targets that will ensure business are on the right path to
set science-based targets for nature when available. Businesses can pilot the beta version of
TNFD’s Nature-Related Risk & Opportunity Management and Disclosure Framework to start
understanding how to assess, manage and disclose their nature-related risks and opportunities.
WBCSD is working with SBTN, TNFD and other leading players to ensure that the frameworks in
development are ambitious and practical. As such, it is intended that more companies will start and
accelerate their nature journey and contribute to a net-zero, nature-positive and equitable future.