Biodiversity: a no longer forgotten crisis

Humanity faces increasingly urgent climate and biodiversity crises. These crises are deeply connected and entwined. Yet they historically have been treated as separate problems, and the biodiversity crisis hasn’t been given enough attention.

Globally, there has been far less consideration given to the biodiversity crisis than climate change. In contrast to climate change, we have been unable or unwilling to mainstream biodiversity, provide decent data, and set clear goals.

But this year, the UN climate conference COP26 and biodiversity conference COP15 almost coincide, giving us an opportunity and responsibility to drive real change. And society is moving in the right direction, with data-driven insights playing an increasingly important role.

The final COP27 agreements held last month in Sharm El Sheikh highlight the need to invest $4 to $6 trillion a year in renewable energy up until 2030 - including investments in infrastructure and technology - to achieve net zero by 2050. This means a massive build-out of wind, solar, and other renewable energy infrastructure, requiring large land and sea areas.

These installations are critical to combatting climate change, but they can adversely affect biodiversity if not adequately planned. Among the risks associated with offshore wind infrastructure, for example, are the loss of habitat for birds and fish, disruption of whale and bird migration routes, and noise.

Crucially, biodiversity itself can help us fight climate change. The ocean, forests, mangroves, and other ecosystems are our best carbon sinks. But today, biodiversity is declining faster than ever, and one million of the eight million species known to exist are at risk of extinction.

Therefore, without joint problem-solving to the climate and biodiversity crises, we risk solving one problem while worsening the other.

Since its adoption in 2015, the Paris Agreement has become a focal point for global efforts to curb emissions. A whole societal movement has developed to measure CO2 emissions to manage and reduce them. Meanwhile, biodiversity has remained a mystery.

We have lacked the data and metrics to properly value nature to understand and reduce our impact. But to make nature a part of the public debate on how we move towards a nature-positive and climate-positive society, we must be able to compare and analyze damages and benefits. 

Thankfully, things are finally looking up – momentum is shifting, and progress is being made. 

This year’s UN Biodiversity COP conference is expected to produce significant results. The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, led by the United Nations, sets out 21 action-oriented targets and 10 milestones for the coming decade. Having failed to meet all targets last decade in the Biodiversity Strategic Plan 2011-2020, this is our opportunity to make things right.

This new framework is far more concrete than the previous one. It embeds the ‘30 x 30’ target of protecting 30% of the land, water, and ocean by 2030. In addition, there is a “call to action” to ensure that more than 30% of funds allocated to climate adaptation and mitigation are earmarked for nature-based solutions. That way, we will see a win/win/win effect on reducing carbon emissions, preserving biodiversity and ensuring population health.  Hopefully, this Biodiversity Framework can connect us and ignite momentum of the kind we saw after the Paris Agreement.

Furthermore, the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy in the EU is a comprehensive and ambitious plan for protecting and restoring nature. It is anchored in the European Green Deal, which means it has become part of Europe’s growth strategy for the years ahead.

As the direction of travel is becoming clear, the finance sector also recognizes it cannot afford to wait for the perfect data and tools to act. New frameworks for nature risk management and disclosure have been developed and introduced, including from The Taskforce of Nature-related Financial Disclosure. 

Businesses, too, increasingly understand the power of transparency and want to get ahead of demands and regulations. In October, 330 companies from 52 countries signed the COP 15 Business Statement for Mandatory Assessment and Disclosure, requesting that governments force them to disclose the impact of their operations on biodiversity. 

At HUB Ocean, we have started on our path, which is paved with ocean biodiversity data. We will be holding a workshop on reusing (ocean) biodiversity data early next year. Together, we aim to describe the data recipe for unlocking valuable biodiversity data and fueling it into the scientific models and industry use cases to drive a more favorable co-existence with nature.

I am confident that these pivotal steps signify more impactful action-taking in the new year. The leaders of 2023 will have to take biodiversity seriously in their countries, companies, and portfolios. And data-driven insight will fuel the much-needed transparency and consequent actions.