Biodiversity Finance Lab
The loss of biodiversity and nature is putting global economies, livelihoods and the financial system at risk, while investing in biodiversity protection can provide important opportunities including and beyond financial returns. The Biodiversity Finance Lab at the Green Finance & Development Center provides research, analyses and advisory services for financial institutions, corporations, civil society and governments with the goal to support the Aichi Targets, the post-2020 biodiversity framework and the goal to harmonize the financial system with the ambition to make our economies nature-positive by 2030.
In the past 40 to 50 years, over 60% of global wildlife has disappeared due to human activity, impacting ecosystem health, our food systems, our water systems, our well-being and the earth’s climate.
At the same time, investing in nature-positive activities can provide relevant financial opportunities for financial institutions, including in nature-based solutions and nature-climate solutions.
At this time, however, most financial institutions have not incorporated biodiversity risks and opportunities in their decision-making.
The Biodiversity Finance Lab therefore aims to close the gap. It provides state-of-the art research and advisory for financial institutions, regulators and civil society how to respond to biodiversity loss and invest in nature-positive activities.
Recent activities and publications on biodiversity finance
Here are the latest relevant posts by GFDC staff and friends, as well as events on biodiversity finance that included GFDC staff.
- New report: Debt-for-nature swap – a commissioned report for China’s Green Finance Committee
As the world’s largest bilateral creditor nation, China may be considering strategies and plans for debt reorganization for some of its most important, and most debt stressed, BRI country partners. The world is - Brief: China’s Role in Public External Debt in DSSI Countries and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2020*updated on April 26, 2022 to correct an error of overstating China’s debt suspension in 2020. Key findings The debt burden of the world’s low-income countries rose 12% to a record US$860 billion
- Interpretation of the 2022 “Guidelines for Ecological Environmental Protection of Foreign Investment Cooperation and Construction Projects”On January 6, 2022, China’s Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE) together with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued the new “Guidelines for Ecological Environmental Protection of Foreign Investment Cooperation and Construction Projects”.
- The 15th Conference of the UN Biological Diversity in Kunming, China: The Establishment of the Kunming Declaration and the Role for Financial InstitutionsPart I of the COP-15 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) took place in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China between 11-24 October in 2021. The Kunming Conference is known as the 15th meeting of the
- Panel Summary: Biodiversity Finance – The Frontier of Green Finance at the 2021 Annual Conference of the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance and Investment (GRASFI)On September 1st 2021, the Green Finance & Development Center at FISF Fudan University Shanghai, the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS University of London and IIGF at Central University of Finance and
- Interpretation: “Opinions on further Strengthening the Protection of Biodiversity” and its impact on green finance, sustainable development, and the Belt and Road Imitative (BRI)On October 19, 2021, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China together with the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on further Strengthening the
