The so-called 'blueprints' are investment models in businesses with a positive and replicable socio-environmental impact; the idea is that the bioeconomy is an investment opportunity for the protection and conservation of biodiversity
Ecosystems and biodiversity are essential for the quality of human life and the economy, both in the short, medium and long term. Therefore, investors who understand the importance of biodiversity for human survival and for the sustainability of their businesses can – and should – seek financial results linked to nature conservation, expanding your investment strategy.
It is with this proposal that the Conservation International (CI-Brazil) and Sitawi Finanças do Bem presented the Biodiversity Conservation Investment Blueprints during the Brazilian Climate Finance Forum, held last week in São Paulo. The Forum, an initiative conceived at COP28, preceded the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting and includes government agencies, civil society and financial market representatives to drive the transition to a low-carbon global economy.
Biodiversity Conservation Investment Blueprints
Blueprint is a financial transaction framework designed to help facilitate replicable investments in priority biodiversity conservation projects. Over 40 pages long, the first document of its kind to be developed in Brazil, three investment models are presented that aim to exemplify how investors can address these crises by allocating their investments in businesses that generate financial returns while also generating significant socio-environmental impacts.
“Private capital must also take into account the objectives of positive socio-environmental impacts in its investment strategies”, says Fernando Campos, manager of Conservation and Climate Finance from Sitawi Finanças do Bem. “Our goal with this initiative is for these business and investment models to be replicated by other institutions, and to leverage and unlock financial resources, expanding the protection and conservation of biodiversity,” he explains.
The Sitawi manager also highlights that, in order to contemplate the actions foreseen in the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), signed by 196 countries, the world is short of between US$598 billion and US$824 billion per year*. He recalls that the need to increase private financial resources for biodiversity is explicitly addressed in GBF Target 19 (c).
“This funding will not be enough to meet the targets set by the GBF and other global climate agreements. In this scenario, the private sector has a great opportunity to take the lead in nature conservation initiatives, ensuring a productive future for an economy that is highly dependent on ecosystem services,” says Mauricio Bianco, vice president of CI-Brazil.
All three blueprints in the document presented by the two organizations present business models that seek to have a harmonious interaction between economic, environmental and social aspects. They are inserted in markets and businesses that promote the integrity of ecosystems, the valorization of the knowledge of local populations and the fair distribution of the benefits achieved.
