COP16: Part Two - Historic nature deal won't succeed without transparency

Last October, the international community gathered in Cali to discuss the future of biodiversity.

COP16 was the follow-up summit to a landmark deal, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which was signed in 2022 by 196 countries and committed them to protect nature and tackle an escalating biodiversity crisis by 2030.

In case we need reminding, that is less than five years away.

Delegates failed to reach a consensus on several important issues, including the establishment of a new global biodiversity fund. This also hindered the adoption of the draft decision on the monitoring framework and review. Additionally, the majority of nations missed the deadline to submit their updated National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.

After two weeks of discussions, the summit ran overtime and talks abruptly ended as delegates were forced to catch flights home. A new round of negotiations in Rome this week will pick up where Cali left off, with the aim of securing agreement on critical issues, including the future of global biodiversity finance. 

The importance of transparency 

While the first iteration of COP16 was a lengthy affair, the second will only have three days to reach a consensus. Central to the success of these discussions – and the future of the GBF – is a strong commitment to transparency. 

The GBF includes 23 targets, and it is only by measuring progress towards these targets that challenges can be identified and addressed. CDP has already analyzed corporate and subnational progress against targets 10, 12 and 15, and our data could be used across many more. 

Monitoring and reporting create transparency, enabling the assessment of our collective efforts to meet commitments, and ensure accountability. Transparency generates data, that all-important currency essential to guiding Earth-positive actions, risk-mitigation and future policy interventions. 

Government departments are often the first port of call for these discussions. Policymakers need to be bold and take a leadership role in making biodiversity and nature a core part of urban planning. CDP provides primary environmental data which policymakers can use to gain an insight into the GBF-aligned commitments of cities, states and regions. For example, recent CDP analysis found that cities are planning for sustainability goals over the long-term but missing the urgency of now. Only 16% of actions to support nature are planned for 2025, while twice as many - 34% - are for after 2050. 

Transparency is critical for the planet, but also to the future of business. The GBF emphasizes the need for businesses to play a role in protecting nature, a recognition that the environment is critical to a company’s bottom line and economic stability. 

The agreement highlights the importance of the private sector in shifting financial flows away from activities harmful to biodiversity and toward investments in nature-positive solutions. So far, companies are struggling to quantify the financial impacts of these risks. Our research found that, in 2023, only 57% of water and 54% of forest-related risks disclosed through CDP were covered by a financial impact value. 

Greater environmental disclosure will surface critical data to help businesses make better sense of the financial risks and lead to the right changes. 

Partnerships matter 

CDP shapes and deploys the world’s most comprehensive environmental database. The breadth and depth of this data should be employed by governments to accelerate action and report on their progress in implementing the GBF. Time is pressing, as the first round of national and global reporting under the GBF is due in 2026.

In 2024, we collected data from over 24,800 companies and nearly 1,000 cities, states and regions, surfacing crucial insights into corporate practices and biodiversity trends. These disclosures covered over 66% of global market capitalization. Companies disclosing on all three issues – climate, forests and water – increased by 122% between 2023 and 2024.

These insights can also help businesses and cities understand their environmental relationships and identify untapped opportunities. This data empowers investors to assess the environmental performance of companies and allocate capital to leaders in the field.

As delegates arrive for a frenzied few days of talks, collaboration should be front of mind. By working together, we can leverage the power of data and achieve the ambitious goals of the GBF. But there is precious little time to act on the promise of this historic deal. Where negotiations broke down in Cali, they must not fail in Rome.

Learn more about using CDP data. For further information, please contact policy@cdp.net.