Ahead of COP29, rich countries expect private money to fill green funding gap | Analysis

Wealthy nations struggle to meet conservation funding targets, shifting focus to private money at U.N. biodiversity summit.

Wealthy nations appeared to hit a limit with how much they are willing to pay to conserve nature around the world, instead shifting their focus at the two-week COP16 U.N. biodiversity summit toward discussions of private money filling the funding gap.

During negotiations in Cali, Colombia, countries failed to figure out how they would mobilise $200 billion annually in conservation funding by 2030, including $30 billion that would come directly from rich nations.

That money, pledged two years ago as part of the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, is meant to finance activities that boost nature, such as sustainable farming or patrolling wildlife reserves.

But there was no consensus as talks dragged on beyond the summit’s scheduled end on Friday, during which dozens of delegations departed. By Saturday morning’s roll call, there was no longer a quorum among the nearly 200 nations for an agreement to pass, forcing organizers to abruptly suspend the meeting.

“I am both saddened and enraged by the non-outcome of COP16,” said Shilps Gautam, chief executive of project finance firm Opna.

“The wild thing about the nature financing discussions is that the numbers discussed are already a pittance.”

Human activities such as farming, mining, and urban development are increasingly pushing nature into crisis, with 1 million or so plant and animal species thought to be at risk of extinction.