Bringing together insights from the financial sector to strengthen the Global Biodiversity Framework

New publication: Developing blended finance capacity for nature on a national level

Following the discussions held during the CBD COP-15 in Montreal, this document represents an effort initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to outline an idea for mobilizing more private financing for biodiversity through blended finance. Unique forms of local embeddedness make investments in biodiversity different from investments in other themes, and demand solutions to be developed that can recognize and answer to the specific needs and opportunities that each particular context brings. Based on the review of literature, learnings from existing cases of blended finance for nature, and discussions with partners of the IDFB (e.g. World Bank, OECD, and EU, among others) on certain key points, the paper aims to capture potential ways in which (international) development finance can support the domestic creation of blended finance transactions – in particular in developing countries.

The development of vehicles and facilities that can operate for specifically assigned (sets of) countries, regions, or ecosystems may be an important solution for stimulating more domestic blended finance transactions. Keeping in mind the unique characteristics of investing in nature, this paper aims to outline the main challenges related to developing domestic blended finance for biodiversity, what is needed to address these challenges, and what type of vehicles and facilities may represent solutions that answer to these needs. In doing so, this paper intends to contribute to the ongoing international dialogue on financing for biodiversity, and to stimulate further exploration of solutions that use a blended finance approach.

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The IDFB Paper: Finding Common Ground on the Alignment of all Financial Flows

In preparation for the COP15 in Montreal of December 2022, the IDFB team has been working on the IDFB Paper on Finding Common Ground on the Alignment of All Financial Flows with Biodiversity Objectives. We are happy to announce that the final version of this paper has now been published and is available below! We invite any interested partners to read through the paper and welcome any feedback, insights or discussions that this paper triggers. 

Download the IDFB paper

The IDFB Paper on Finding Common Ground on the Alignment of All Financial Flows with Biodiversity Objectives.

The IDFB has also developed a Storyline, which can be consulted for more information on the IDFB. This storyline, as well as the learnings and exchanges shared during all of the IDFB sessions by different participants, has formulated the basis of the ‘Finding Common Ground’ Paper. This Finding Common Ground paper aims to synthesise all of the important learnings and key ideas from the IDFB sessions, existing publications relating to biodiversity and finance, and inputs from by IDFB participants, as well as the knowledge shared by our Knowledge Partners. It strives to provide a common understanding of what the Alignment of All Financial Flows means, what actions and actors it entails, and how this can be implemented on the ground so as to align finance with the goals of the Post-2020 GBF. The outline for the Finding Common Ground paper can be found here.

About the IDFB & its mission

The gap in funding for biodiversity worldwide is estimated to be between US $598 and $824 billion annually. To fill this gap, the financial sector has to be involved in achieving an ambitious post-2020  Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Various countries, including the Netherlands, have reached out to the financial sector and have illustrated that it is possible to integrate biodiversity in all financial flows and to use public funding to leverage private finance. 

Based on our collective learnings from supporting partnerships and coalitions, the Dutch Government has set up the Interface Dialogue Finance and Biodiversity (IDFB). The goal of the IDFB is to showcase best practices in greening the financial sector to the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and to  strengthen their efforts in aligning finance to the post-2020 GBF. 

The IDFB was set up by the government of The Netherlands in close collaboration with the government of the United Kingdom and the CBD secretariat.

The IDFB tries to mobilise Parties to the CBD and financial institutions in order to galvanise the transition towards including biodiversity in financial decision making. The IDFB will run up until the COP15 process is completed with the adoption of the GBF. The dialogue is open for governments and financials that are interested in participating, and is conducted in an informal and mostly online or hybrid format.

The IDFB helps to facilitate: 

  • The alignment of a group of governments and financials wanting to create momentum around exchanging learnings and information on this topic. 
  • The sharing of knowledge and experiences linked to policy development, tools and data gathering. 
  • Collaboration on initiatives that strengthen the transition of the financial sector. 
  • Exploring and supporting countries in getting access to information, tools and best practices for mobilising finance; and in using this information to strengthen the GBF. 
  • The representation of the topic of finance mobilisation in relevant forums.

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