The European Commission adopted its revised Guidance on the EU regime governing ivory trade on 16 December, as part of its commitment under the EU Biodiversity Strategy to take additional action against elephant poaching and ivory trafficking globally.
The Strategy sets out concrete measures for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of soils.
On 30 Nov – 1 Dec 2021, the EU Business@Biodiversity Platform, together with Entreprises pour l’Environnement, Biodiversity in Good Company and the Value Balancing Alliance, hosted the 2021 edition of the European Business Nature Summit. The Summit capitalised on the momentum from this year’s busy climate and environment agenda, and gathered 86 speakers and more than 1000 participant representing businesses of all sizes, financial institutions, NGOs, biodiversity experts, and national and EU level policy-makers.
The Capitals Coalition and the We Value Nature campaign have developed a new online course on “Valuing nature and people to inform business decision-making” to be launched in early 2022. The training will be delivered on the Coursera platform, and will feature videos, interactive exercises, quizzes and discussion prompts.
In January 2022, UNEP FI, the PRI, the Finance@Biodiversity Community, and the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge will host two webinars on finance and biodiversity. On 6 January, we will showcase positive stories on financing nature, and on 11 January, we will offer an introduction for financials who want to get started with addressing nature loss.
The Align project – Aligning accounting approaches for nature – is reaching the end of its first year. The official launch and recruitment webinar organised in early 2021 raised interest among more than 500 organisations. Today the Align community includes more than 600 members. Within this, more than 200 business practitioners and technical experts have engaged in developing recommendations for a standard on corporate biodiversity measurement and valuation. Read more about the key achievement of 2021 and the next steps planned for 2022.
On 10-11 November the European Commission and the European External Action Service organised the EU Arctic Forum and the Annual Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ Dialogue. Over two days, ministers, ambassadors, European and local policy makers, representatives of Indigenous Peoples, NGOs, scientists, and university students discussed the situation in the Arctic and addressed the implementation of the updated EU Arctic Policy as expressed in the Joint Communication of 13 October 2021.
Senior officials from ASEAN and the EU gathered virtually on 16 September for the third EU-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on Environment and Climate Change, which was hosted by Brunei Darussalam.
Ministers from the 42 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), gathered in Cairo for the 2nd UfM Ministerial Conference on Environment and Climate Action, agreed on a common agenda to strengthen efforts in tackling the urgent multiple environmental and climate challenges faced by the Euro-Mediterranean region, including marine litter, sustainable waste management, biodiversity loss and air pollution.
The first segment of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) took place in the Chinese city of Kunming and online from 11 to 15 October 2021. This was the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade. It included the participation of over 2900 delegates in Kunming, and 2400 connecting virtually.
Game-changing new financing commitments for nature and people were announced at UNGA’s 76th High Level event “Transformative Action for Nature and People”. These included the reiteration by President von der Leyen of her announcement in her State of the Union address that the European Union will double its external funding for biodiversity in the next 7 years, as well as the biggest-ever philanthropic commitment to nature conservation.
The IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille (3-11 September) closed with its members proclaiming a Manifesto, through which they committed to respecting the perspectives and harnessing the agency of all citizens – especially youth, indigenous peoples and local community leaders who play a central role in nature and biodiversity conservation –, and promoting investments in nature, the transition to a nature-positive economy and nature-based solutions.
Read the main outcomes of the G20 Environment Ministers Meeting, held on July 22, and the G20 Leaders Summit organized from October 30 to 31, 2021.
On 8 October 2021, at its 48th session, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted Resolution 48/13, officially recognising for the first time that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right.
The UNFCCC COP26 ‘Action on Forests and Land Use’ Summit brought together an unprecedented alliance of governments, companies, financial actors, and non-state leaders to raise ambitions to preserve the lungs of the world. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €1 billion contribution from the European Union.
The first segment of the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4) took place online from 1 to 5 November, with over a thousand participants and an ambitious programme of work. It constructively considered important issues including evaluation, reporting, funding, increased international cooperation, and the listing of new products under the convention. A second in-person segment is planned for 21 - 25 March 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.
The meeting yielded the adoption of 18 decisions, including a landmark agreement on a sulphur emissions control area in the Mediterranean.
In 2021, the Finance@Biodiversity Community has focused its collective learning and experience sharing on the subject of ‘Engagement with companies’. This covers both the engagement of investors with publicly listed companies, and the engagement of banks with their clients. The F@B Community developed four workshops together with its members, in response to their needs, and it is now developing a guidance paper based on the workshops. The preliminary results are already available in the official minutes for each session.
The Commission proposed new rules to curb EU-driven deforestation, and facilitate intra-EU waste shipments. It also presents a new Soil strategy to have all European soils restored, resilient, and adequately protected by 2050.
