What happened
First, the bad news: developed countries did not make good on their GBF pledge to fund $20bn for biodiversity by 2025. Nor was there any progress on a pledge to reduce government subsidies that harm biodiversity by $500bn annually. In fact, since 2022, subsidies that encourage unsustainable production, carbon-intensive consumption, the depletion of natural resources, or the degradation of global ecosystems have actually increased by $800bn instead of going down. (Paul Polman gave a powerful speech on the topic.)
No wonder some of the commentary has been negative.
But despite these issues, the COP produced concrete agreements that will have a positive impact. If you had been advocating for indigenous people and local communities (IPLCs) to be better included in decision-making for biodiversity, for example, you would be celebrating the “historic moment” of the establishment of a subsidiary body for article 8(j). IPLCs play a critical role in conserving key biodiversity as they manage or hold tenure rights over more than a quarter of Earth’s terrestrial surface and are present in about 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes.
Overall, there has been progress from countries since the last conference. As of this COP, 17.6% of terrestrial and 8.4% of marine areas are now protected, with the rise in coverage of protected areas since 2020, at “over twice the size of Colombia,” showing “glimmers of promise”, according to UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. By the end of the COP, 119 countries had submitted national targets aligned with the GBF and 44 had submitted national plans to achieve these. While this is not yet enough, there would be no such plans or targets, let alone aligned to a common global ambition, without these conferences.
What is more, COPs are useful in bringing together groups of people with common goals to align visions, share expertise, and learn from each other. What happens on the sidelines of formal policy discussions often impacts biodiversity efforts.
Increasingly “the biodiversity COP has evolved to be a true confluence of corporations, policymakers, Indigenous communities, startups, and financiers” from its origins as a meeting for only policymakers, notes  Superorganism, a venture capital firm set up specifically for biodiversity, in its conclusion. For these stakeholders, business included, the COP is the time and place to launch flagship initiatives, like the pledge by more than 230 businesses and financial institutions to transform their “operations, value chains, and entire sectors to contribute to a thriving economy that depends on healthy ecosystems.