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The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, marked a significant shift in how businesses engage with nature and biodiversity. We gathered leading voices in the nature sector to discuss and share their key takeaways from the conference and what this means for businesses going forward.
Our panel included:
André Hoffmann, Chairman of the Capitals Coalition
Will Evison, Global Director of Climate & Nature Strategy at PwC UK
Akanksha Khatri, Nature lead at World Economic Forum
Chaired by Sebastian Leape, CEO at Natcap
The conference saw record-breaking business attendance, with an estimated 3,000-5,000 business representatives compared to just 20-30 a decade ago. This included major players from mining, energy, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and agriculture sectors, alongside strong representation from financial services.
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has gained significant traction, reaching 502 early adopters - far exceeding the 270 that TCFD had secured at a similar stage. André Hoffmann emphasised how TNFD is "making it very real" for businesses to understand nature's materiality to their operations.
Akanksha Khatri, Head of Nature Action Agenda at the World Economic Forum, highlighted a major win: the establishment of a new forum for Indigenous peoples and local communities, giving them a permanent voice in biodiversity negotiations.
Whilst there were successes, public financing fell significantly short of targets. Current mobilisation stands at about £400 million against a target of £20 billion per year, highlighting a critical funding gap that needs addressing.
Akanksha emphasised the growing recognition of the need to better integrate biodiversity and climate action. Discussions focused on aligning National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with climate NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), particularly in the context of a safe and just energy transition.
Sebastian highlighted how the conversation has shifted from "Do we have enough data?" to "How do we best use available data?" New technologies, including AI, satellite imagery, and ground-truthing methods, are improving nature-related measurements and monitoring. The main challenge now is understanding what to measure.
Whilst still evolving, biodiversity credits gained significant attention. Akanksha stressed that for this market to succeed, it must "start from the point of integrity and clear governance standards" rather than treating these as afterthoughts.
Thank you to our panellists for joining and engaging in such a rich and engaging discussion on one of the most important topics of our time.
Thanks to everyone who attended live and for the insightful questions posed.
You can watch the full webinar above.
Identify where you should prioritise your efforts, understand your nature impacts and dependencies, disclose to stakeholders and take action.
See how it works...
