Setting targets and assessing nature? Yes, finance can!

A growing community of financial institutions recognise the critical role the finance sector plays in addressing the global biodiversity crisis and are taking action to address this. This includes the 100+ signatories of the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, the 70+ members of the PRB Biodiversity Community, the 30+ signatories to the financial sector commitment letter on eliminating commodity-driven deforestation, or the nearly 40 financial institutions that together with UNEP FI is piloting the draft TNFD framework. But commitments need to be paired with action. Efforts to set concrete targets to ‘reverse nature loss’ or become ‘nature positive’ are underway but various challenges remain to be addressed to mainstream these practices across the market. In this session, we have invited top scientists and practitioners from the financial sector. We will learn from financial institutions that are committed to nature, setting concrete targets and monitoring progress, showcasing that it can be done, as well as hearing reflections from scientists. The finance representatives will use this unique occasion to ask the scientists for their perspective on ongoing initiatives and on the gaps that remain to be tackled to drive the sustainable finance transition.