Many good intentions but little money on the table?

Deep in Colombia’s Valle del Cauca region, the city of Cali has transformed into a global environmental hub as it hosts what could be this year’s most crucial conservation summit. The 16th UN Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity (COP16) has drawn environmental leaders and delegates from 196 nations for twelve intensive negotiations days, from October 21 to November 1.

This year’s COP16 marks the first major review of global conservation efforts.

The 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework stands alongside the Paris Climate Agreement as a cornerstone of international environmental policy. While the Paris Agreement focuses on climate change mitigation, the Kunming-Montreal framework established comprehensive biodiversity targets for the current decade. At its core is the landmark “30×30” goal, which commits nations to protect 30% of the planet’s land and sea areas. Financial commitments form another cornerstone of the agreement. Wealthy nations must provide at least $30 billion annually in international biodiversity financing by 2030. Additionally, environmentally harmful subsidies must be reduced by at least $500 billion annually.

Within this broad framework, nations are expected to present their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) during the summit. However, over 85% of countries missed the UN’s deadline to submit new nature pledges ahead of the COP16 due to various reasons, mainly related to the complexity of a long-term policy design.

The success of global conservation efforts hinges significantly on financial support. During the 2022 negotiations, developing nations successfully advocated for increased funding commitments. As 2025 approaches, all eyes are on wealthy blocks and nations, particularly the European Union, to see if they’ll announce new financial commitments in Cali to demonstrate genuine commitment toward these goals.

How the European Union arrived at COP16

The European Union arrived at COP 16 reiterating its commitment to the Kunming-Montreal agreement’s targets and the two UN protocols behind the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: the Cartagena protocol on biosafety and the Nagoya protocol on access and benefit-sharing.

In this scenario, the recent adoption of the EU regulation on nature restoration marks a milestone in the European Union’s commitment towards global biodiversity targets as a block.

Following the landmark Nature Restoration Law, which – among other objectives – aims to restore at least 20% of degraded EU ecosystems by 2030, the EU is also implementing complementary legislation under the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Key initiatives include the Soil Health Law, a proposed regulation to monitor and improve soil health, and the Forest Monitoring Framework, which enhances forest management and conservation efforts.

These laws are accompanied by mechanisms to unlock funding, engage private-sector investments, and involve EU Member States through National Restoration Plans. These plans will outline specific restoration projects tailored to national needs, with binding targets for 2030, 2040, and 2050.

Looking forward: how the EU’s biodiversity policy will evolve in the future

The EU sees COP16 as an opportunity to strengthen biodiversity legislation in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). A core goal is to help countries align their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with GBF targets, pushing the EU to create regulations that improve coordination among member states beyond existing National Restoration Plans.

The European Commission has added two priorities to COP16’s agenda: integrating climate and biodiversity initiatives, especially as UN climate and desertification conferences follow COP16, and promoting “Climate Proofing” to incorporate biodiversity and climate impacts into project assessments, particularly in high-impact sectors. Financial institutions are also encouraged to adopt frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to align investments with environmental goals.

Aligned with this, the EU is embedding biodiversity considerations across sectors. For instance, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) now funds biodiversity-friendly farming, and the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) includes criteria to reduce bioenergy’s ecological impact.

China: an ally despite everything?

This effort may gain significant momentum through collaboration with China, which has already highlighted biodiversity mainstreaming as a central element in its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. However, considerable trade divergences on other topics between the two blocks may hinder negotiations in this sense.

For many, the success of COP 16 in Cali will be measured not only by the amount of money raised in conservation funding but also by global commitments and tangible progress on policy developments. This forward-looking policy must be able to combine biodiversity protection, climate initiatives, and innovative ways to optimise production in high-impact sectors.