When countries gather in Yerevan, Armenia, this month for COP17, the first global stocktake of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will show that finance is the weakest link. A report prepared by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity finds that the $200bn-per-year biodiversity finance gap is nowhere near being closed. Between 2020 and 2023, countries mobilised a cumulative $186.4bn, or less than $50bn per year on average.
The report also says the 2025 milestone of at least $20bn per year in public biodiversity finance from developed to developing countries was "likely not achieved". Reporting countries provided a cumulative $17.7bn over four years, an average of $4.4bn per year. OECD data cited in the report puts international public finance at around $16.1bn per year on average, still nearly $4bn below the goal.
Two dedicated funding channels are also stumbling. The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has received only $387.2m in signed commitments since 2023, and the Cali Fund, meant to draw contributions from companies profiting from genetic data, has received just $6,000. Both sources agree that finance will be a key point of contention at COP17, with developing countries bearing the greater burden of implementation while the promised support falls short.