Financing a Shared Future for All Life on Earth | What is Scotland doing? | Lorna Slater MSP

What is the Scottish government doing to finance the protection of nature? Scottish Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity Lorna Slater MSP gives details on the £55 million fund for nature, and other Scottish Government initiatives to protect Scotland’s natural environment.

COP15, the landmark UN Biodiversity summit, should have taken place this week, but was unfortunately delayed due to the pandemic. Instead, we sat down with Lorna and UN Convention on Biodiversity Executive Secretary & Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Co-chair Elizabeth Mrema to discuss some of the issues that might have been discussed. With Natalie Jackson, GEFI Technical Lead, Lorna and Elizabeth discuss why we need to finance nature, the Global Biodiversity Framework, how governments can help and what the Scottish Government is doing in this space.

With the forthcoming Global Biodiversity Framework, the Convention on Biological Diversity is setting the stage for a worldwide re-direction of financial flows away from nature-negative and towards nature-positive outcomes. Market players are speeding ahead with testing the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) beta framework, to make it ready to inform and respond to these new international norms around nature, nature-based solutions and finance. As part of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation, we have committed to establishing a values-led, high-integrity market for responsible investment in natural capital.

Despite on-going efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide and this decline is projected to worsen with business-as-usual scenarios. This session, aimed at global finance practitioners, is intended to raise aware and inspire practical action in relation to the critical need to finance. It will provide an update on global and national initiatives to help drive the action required to finance a shared future for all life on earth.

GEFI has a long history of supporting finance for nature, from a programme of collaboration between UNDP, GEFI and the Scottish Government, to the COP26 launch of an exclusive, commercial platform showcasing financial products that are directly aligned to the SDGs. The platform works with partners throughout the product lifecycle to share learnings and build the ecosystem of SDG aligned financial products across asset classes. See more at https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/our-work/financing-sdgs-programme/.

Alongside this work our Finance for Nature Series has brought together nature experts and the finance industry to discuss the most effective solutions to financing nature and biodiversity. Past and planned events include a physical summit in 2019, a 2020’s virtual global series, supporting UNDP’s Nature for Life hub, a dedicated session at our Ethical Finance 2021 summit, and events at COP26 on the banks of Loch Lomond.

Explore more:
Interview with Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta: https://youtu.be/Mt1_u0bZQ04
Panel on practical action on biodiversity: https://youtu.be/MRAiaBxocR0
Jamison Ervin of UNDP on the biodiversity challenge: https://youtu.be/e7T2ke7JnGY
Financing Nature and the SDGs: https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/our-work/financing-sdgs-programme/
Finance for Nature Global Summit: https://www.globalethicalfinance.org/our-events/finance-for-nature-global-summit/
Why is it so important to finance nature, with Achim Steiner of UNDP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0PZu1qOv1A
Aligned Accountability – A Common Database on Deforestation | Path to COP26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXllviae8V8
Kate Forbes | Finance for Nature | Path to COP26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsl_N9TJcw
Investing at scale: aligning value chains locally with LENs | Finance for Nature | Path to COP26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQozbU6Vfjs
Success Factors for Blended Finance: the OECD’s Five Principles | Finance for Nature | Path to COP26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkJqvRDkYkE

For more details:
Web: http://globalethicalfinance.org
Summit: http://ethicalfinancesummit.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/finance4change
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/globalethicalfinance