It is a pleasure to open the Finance and Biodiversity Day at COP17.
The theme of this COP is “Taking Action for Nature’’.
We have talked about the need for action for long enough. Now we need to act.
Four years ago, the international community adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, setting out a pathway to living in harmony with nature by 2050.
The destination is set. The path is clear. But progress has remained limited. And nature has not stood still. It has continued to deteriorate. So we need to accelerate.
Tangible progress requires a shift from targets to implementation, from awareness to engagement, from ambition to investment.
COP17 must help us accelerate the journey. And finance has a central role to play. That should not come as a surprise: without investment, there can be no transition.
But we need to get the economics right. Protecting and restoring nature is not simply spending. It is investment: investment in the natural capital on which our economies depend, investment in resilience, and investment in our future prosperity.
That is why Finance and Biodiversity Day matters.