Biodiversity and Development Finance 2015-2022

1. The importance of development finance to achieve Target 19 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2022, Parties agreed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Target 19a of the KMGBF commits developed countries1 (and other countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country Parties) to a collective goal of mobilising at least USD 20 billion per year by 2025, and at least USD 30 billion per year by 2030, from all international sources, for biodiversity-related action in developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition. Official development finance (ODF) is one of the means of accomplishing this (see Box 1.1).

Box 1.1. Finance provisions of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) includes a set of four global goals for 2050 (CBD, 2022[1]). Goal D is pertinent to development finance: “Adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, technical and scientific co-operation, and access to and transfer of technology to fully implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are secured and equitably accessible to all Parties, especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, progressively closing the biodiversity finance gap of USD 700 billion per year, and aligning financial flows with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2050 Vision for biodiversity.”

The KMGBF also covers 23 action-oriented targets to be achieved by 2030. Under Target 19 Parties agreed to: “Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources from all sources, in an effective, timely and easily accessible manner, including domestic, international, public and private resources, in accordance with Article 20 of the Convention, to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans, by 2030 mobilising at least USD 200 billion per year, including by:

a) Increasing total biodiversity-related international financial resources from developed countries, including official development assistance, and from countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country Parties, to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing states, as well as countries with economies in transition, to at least USD 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least USD 30 billion per year by 2030;

b) Significantly increasing domestic resource mobilisation, facilitated by the preparation and implementation of national biodiversity finance plans or similar instruments according to national needs, priorities and circumstances;

c) Leveraging private finance, promoting blended finance, implementing strategies for raising new and additional resources, and encouraging the private sector to invest in biodiversity, including through impact funds and other instruments;

d) Stimulating innovative schemes such as payment for ecosystem services, green bonds, biodiversity offsets and credits, benefit-sharing mechanisms, with environmental and social safeguards;

e) Optimising co-benefits and synergies of finance targeting the biodiversity and climate crises;

f) Enhancing the role of collective actions, including by indigenous peoples and local communities, Mother Earth centric actions and non-market-based approaches including community based natural resource management and civil society cooperation and solidarity aimed at the conservation of biodiversity; and

g) Enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of resource provision and use.”

Progress towards Target 19 would also be supported by other finance-related KMGBF Targets, mainly: Target 14 on mainstreaming and alignment of financial flows; Target 15 on business assessment, disclosure and reduction of biodiversity-related risks and impacts; and Target 18 on reducing harmful subsidies and scaling up positive incentives. In addition, COP15 also approved the Monitoring Framework for the KMGBF (CBD, 2022[2]), including the headline indicators and the online reporting tool and global review, as the way of measuring progress on the implementation of KMGBF Goals and Targets, and a Resource Mobilisation Strategy (CBD, 2022[3]).

ODF is mainly tracked by the OECD through its Creditor Reporting System (CRS). Since 1998, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has monitored development finance targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions, including the CBD, through four “Rio markers” (biodiversity, desertification, climate change mitigation and adaptation). Countries and institutions reporting their ODF to the OECD signal flows to biodiversity-related activities using the biodiversity Rio marker, as well as through two Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) tags – SDG 14 (marine biodiversity) and SDG 15 (terrestrial biodiversity). These data are reported by a range of stakeholders, namely: bilateral DAC members; bilateral providers beyond the DAC, including South-South and triangular co-operation providers (hereafter “South-South providers”); multilateral development banks and other multilateral institutions; private philanthropic foundations; and private finance mobilised by public development finance.

Using these data, the OECD initiated an annual report series on Biodiversity and Development Finance (OECD, 2023[4]) with the aim to track the contribution of development finance towards Target 19 of the KMGBF. As such, and as part of this series, the present report provides an overview of trends in biodiversity-related development finance from 2015 to 2022, updating previous OECD work in this area, notably OECD (2023[5]) and Casado-Asensio, Blaquier and Sedemund (2022[6]), which analyse the contribution of development finance for biodiversity for the decade 2011-20, coinciding with the implementation period of the CBD Strategic Plan on Biodiversity and its Aichi Targets. It also provides an update of the relevant sections of A Comprehensive Overview of Global Biodiversity Finance report, which provides an aggregate estimate of global biodiversity finance, covering public, private, domestic and international finance (OECD, 2020[7]).

The present report is based on a comprehensive methodology developed to identify biodiversity-related activities in the OECD-DAC CRS and Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) databases (see Annex A). Biodiversity-related development finance refers to official development assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) that contribute to the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Annual updates of biodiversity-related development finance can help track the implementation of the resource mobilisation provisions of the KMGBF with the range of development finance sources currently captured by the OECD and the International Forum on TOSSD (i.e. the CRS and TOSSD, respectively). Shedding light on these flows can help DAC members, other providers of development co-operation, civil society, partner countries and other stakeholders as they embark in their preparations for the 16th COP of the CBD in Cali, Colombia; discussions on biodiversity and nature at the 29th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP in Baku, Azerbaijan; and at the 16th United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. More generally, the report also provides relevant inputs to monitor the implementation of the OECD DAC Declaration on a New Approach to Align Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (OECD, 2021[8]).

Total biodiversity-related international finance from developed countries, or countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed countries, to developing countries includes both international public and private sector financial resources. Regarding international private sector finance allocated to developing countries, this report captures finance from private philanthropy and private finance mobilised by bilateral and multilateral public finance, as included in the OECD-DAC CRS. However, biodiversity-related international finance could also encompass other sources of international private finance flows (e.g. flows from civil society, the private sector or high-net-worth individuals) that could be considered international development finance but that are not captured in this report. For a comprehensive overview of global biodiversity finance covering public, private, domestic and international finance, see OECD (2020[7]).

In addition, enhanced statistical reporting can help better capture biodiversity flows even from stakeholders already reporting to both the CRS and TOSSD (Box 1.2). Other aspects of Target 19 of the KMGBF also fall within the remit of development co-operation (see Box 1.1) yet are not readily quantifiable with specific targets or indicators. Hence, this report also presents data contributing to: Target 19(b) looking into examples of development finance that support enabling environments and policy support; Target 19(e) looking at trends between development finance targeting biodiversity and climate change objectives; Target 19(f) looking into biodiversity-related development finance related to Indigenous peoples and local communities; as well as other relevant analysis including development finance targeting both biodiversity and gender equality objectives.

Compared to the 2023 report, this report provides the following novelties:

• Greater coverage of bilateral development finance from OECD-DAC members, including a breakdown by DAC member, and by looking at biodiversity-related development finance addressing multiple issues (e.g. climate change, gender equality, Indigenous peoples and local communities), as well as examples to strengthen enabling environments and local capacities to support domestic resource mobilisation.

• Greater insights of bilateral development finance beyond the DAC, including South-South and triangular co-operation (through trends on regional allocations, channels of delivery, sectoral breakdowns and examples).

• Greater identification of biodiversity-related development finance by multilateral development banks and other multilateral institutions reporting to the OECD-DAC CRS.

• Greater coverage of private philanthropies, including a breakdown of philanthropic providers, and insights on additional private philanthropies and the opportunities to increase reporting.

• Greater coverage of mobilised private finance, looking into leveraging mechanisms, allocations by regions and level of income, and highlighting the importance of the private sector as a key partner to advance the international development agenda.

For further information, see methodology in Annex A.

Box 1.2. Stock take report to improve biodiversity-related development finance statistics

The biodiversity Rio marker helps track the mainstreaming of biodiversity objectives across development finance portfolios and is often used by Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members to report on their financial commitments to the CBD. Recognising the need to improve the reporting on biodiversity-related development finance, members agreed in 2024 to update the DAC statistical framework on biodiversity (i.e. biodiversity Rio marker) by strengthening data transparency, availability and coherence.

Drawing from a survey launched in January 2024 as well as on evidence from a review of DAC statistics and desk research, the OECD produced a stock take report on members’ biodiversity-related reporting practices (Casado-Asensio, Blaquier and Gualberti, 2024[9]), which sought to identify possible constraints and opportunities for refining data collection on biodiversity-related development finance. Survey responses were received from all 32 DAC members. Several conclusions can be drawn from the stock take, which can help improve the application of the biodiversity Rio marker and in reporting to the OECD-DAC CRS (and, where applicable, to the CBD):

• Members have come a long way in screening their ODA and other official flows activities against the biodiversity Rio marker, but further efforts could be deployed. The approval of the reporting methods for “private sector instruments”, can be an opportunity to ensure greater biodiversity-related screening.

• Further training and guidance materials are needed for expert and non-expert policy officers (across the whole system, both in headquarters and in the field) and for statistical reporters to better use the marker, providing clarity and consistency in the assignment of the marker, as well as enhancing comparability across members.

• Additional review and quality assurance tools (notably exploring artificial intelligence) could alleviate the reporting burden on biodiversity, improve data quality and provide solutions when capacity is limited. These tools could also be used, as needed, for retro marketing data.

• For members without a dedicated biodiversity-related development finance portfolio, engaging in the update of the Rio marker on biodiversity can help tease out biodiversity-related activities, e.g. in their environment or climate change portfolios, as indeed the marker can help promote and track mainstreaming.

• Guidance is also needed on how to apply the biodiversity and other Rio markers coherently, as well as using the environment marker and the Sustainable Development Goals.

DAC members are currently working to update and develop guidance on the biodiversity Rio marker, notably to align with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), including to improve the reporting directives (e.g. definition, eligibility criteria, indicative table) and to continue raising awareness on the importance of biodiversity-related development finance overall (e.g. through annual reports tracking the contribution of development finance to the KMGBF).

Source: (Casado-Asensio, Blaquier and Gualberti, 2024[9])

References

[9] Casado-Asensio, J., D. Blaquier and G. Gualberti (2024), “Stock Take Report on Members’ Reporting Practices on Biodiversity-related Development Finance and Reporting against International Obligations”, DCD/DAC/ENV(2024)1/REV1/FINAL, https://one.oecd.org/document/DCD/DAC/ENV(2024)1/REV1/FINAL/en/pdf.

[6] Casado-Asensio, J., D. Blaquier and J. Sedemund (2022), “Biodiversity and development finance: Main trends, 2011-20”, OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers, No. 110, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b04b14b7-en.

[1] CBD (2022), Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/e6d3/cd1d/daf663719a03902a9b116c34/cop-15-l-25-en.pdf (accessed on 15 July  2024).

[3] CBD (2022), Resource Mobilization, https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/22fb/be2c/02e31154c4d4429de03caefe/cop-15-l-29-en.pdf (accessed on 15 July 2024).

[10] CBD (2006), Guidance to the financial mechanism, https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-08/cop-08-dec-18-en.pdf (accessed on 9 July 2024).

[2] CBD/COP/DEC/15/5 (ed.) (2022), Decision adopted by the conference of the parties to the convention on biological diversity: 15/5. Monitoring framework for the kunming-montreal global biodiversity framework, https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-dec-05-en.pdf (accessed on 3 April 2024).

[5] OECD (2023), A Decade of Development Finance for Biodiversity, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/e6c182aa-en.

[4] OECD (2023), Biodiversity and Development Finance 2015-2021: Progress towards Target 19 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, OECD Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1787/6d43b54d-en.

[8] OECD (2021), OECD DAC Declaration on a new approach to align development co-operation, https://www.oecd.org/dac/development-assistance-committee/dac-declaration-climate-change-cop26.pdf (accessed on 1 July 2024).

[7] OECD (2020), A Comprehensive Overview of Global Biodiversity Finance, https://www.oecd.org/environment/resources/biodiversity/report-a-comprehensive-overview-of-global-biodiversity-finance.pdf (accessed on 1 July 2024).

Note

← 1.  The list of developed country Parties and other Parties that voluntarily assume the obligations of developed country parties to the CBD includes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (CBD, 2006[10]). It is important to note that this report also reflects contributions from additional bilateral providers, such as all OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members (e.g. Estonia, EU institutions, Hungary, Korea, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic, and the United States), and other non-DAC countries, see Annex A.