The 2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference was held in Shanghai from October 16 to 18. Marco Lambertini, Convenor of the Platform on Biodiversity and former Director-General ·of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), delivered a speech.
Marco · Lambertini said that at this critical moment for the survival of humanity, we must change the direction of development and adopt a development approach that no longer comes at the expense of nature.
He stressed that natural benefits were not a slogan, but a global goal. It's measurable, it's something that drives strategy and holds us accountable to each other in achieving it. "We need to transform the main sectors of the economy that are damaged by nature today into areas that benefit nature tomorrow, and we need to redirect public and private financial flows to support these transitions to nature-benefit. All of this needs to be achieved through regulatory, technological and behavioural changes."
The 2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference is co-hosted by CITIC Group and Sina Group, and organized by Sina Finance and CITIC Publishing (29.960, 0.96, 3.31%) Group. Kweichow Moutai (1494.600, -27.90, -1.83%) is the chief strategic partner, and China Construction Bank (8.280, -0.08, -0.96%) and Great Wall Motor (26.430, -0.79, -2.90%) are strategic partners.
The following is a transcript of the speech:
Hello everyone, thank you very much for inviting me to the "ESG Global Leaders Conference" of Sina Finance, science has never told us so clearly that this generation is facing the enormous challenge of avoiding dangerous tipping points in the Earth system.
Because of these tipping points, our lives on Earth have become more difficult, but at the same time, our generation has the opportunity to usher in a turning point in our relationship with nature. We know where we've come and why.
Our economic model has led to tremendous progress in human development. For example, the increase in average income, the increase in life expectancy around the world, the reduction in mortality, the reduction in absolute poverty, etc. Of course, while these advances are unevenly distributed around the world, in general, we have made tremendous progress over the past 100 years.
However, all this at the expense of the natural environment. We have destabilized the climate, we are losing nature and biodiversity, and it is clear from these two graphs that our development is based on the decline of nature and the exploitative use of natural resources. It is clear that, in future development, if nature continues to decline and no longer provide the goods and services on which human societies and economies depend, then the future development of humanity will not only be affected, but the progress made so far will also be substantially affected.
This is therefore a critical moment for the survival of humanity, and we must change the course of development and adopt a development approach that is no longer at the expense of nature, in order to continue to provide development opportunities for the less developed regions of the world.
Today's planet is hotter and less alive because of human activity, and the top bands and the red ones actually reflect global warming, while the bottom ones reflect the loss of biodiversity, which is sad and unprecedented.
But all of this also carries some good news.
First, we recognize the problem, we understand the magnitude of the problem, and most importantly, we are beginning to realize that these problems will have serious consequences not only on the natural world, but also on our world, our economy, our society, our health and well-being.
This new consciousness is also reflected in the economic aspect, where the World Economic Forum estimates that half of the world's GDP today is highly or moderately dependent on natural services, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, industry, etc., all of which are beginning to have an impact on our economies. In reality, the entire economy and society as a whole depend to some extent on nature, especially good ecosystems.
The World Economic Forum's assessment of the next decade shows that half of all factors considered to pose the greatest risk to the economy and society are actually related to natural or environmental degradation, either climate or natural loss.
That's why the world has finally come together.
The first was the agreement on the global goal of carbon neutrality in the Paris Agreement and, more recently, on the global goal of benefiting nature in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The idea of achieving carbon neutrality through net-zero emissions and achieving net-positive benefits for nature by achieving net-positive biodiversity is that for nature, it is not enough to achieve net-zero emissions, as long as nature is given a chance, it can quickly regenerate and rejuvenate.
Natural benefits are not a slogan, but a global goal. At the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, under the Chinese presidency, the benefits of nature have been integrated into the mission of the Global Biodiversity Framework under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and are defined as a target to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 compared to the 2020 baseline.
This goal is measurable, drives strategy, and holds us accountable to each other in achieving our goals.
We know how to achieve the goal of benefiting nature, which is that we need to increase the protection of the planet's remaining resources, to protect at least 30% of the planet's natural systems, we need to restore natural systems that can be restored, or at least 30% that have been degraded, we need to transform the main economic sectors of the economy that are damaged by nature today into the areas that benefit nature tomorrow, and we need to redirect public and private financial flows to support these transitions to the benefits of nature. All of this needs to be achieved through regulatory, technological and behavioural changes.
Every country and business in the world should develop a nature-positive strategy and work towards the common goal of net positive biodiversity for nature-beneficial. The development of such a strategy should be based on two types of indicators or metrics.
First, we need to measure the impact of our footprint and the actions we take to address and mitigate those impacts. Second, these measures should be able to demonstrate that through these mitigation actions we have indeed improved the natural situation and achieved results that benefit nature.
The strategy is divided into several steps. The first step is to understand and assess the impact, which is a necessary first step. The second is to avoid avoidable impacts, and the third is to mitigate and reduce the impacts that can be mitigated. The next step is to restore the damage that has been done, if possible. Finally, there is compensation for the inevitable residual effects.
That is, by investing in the natural environment outside of the company's operations and outside the company's supply chain, so that it can ultimately achieve net positive, that is, the result of natural benefits. In a nutshell, this is the concept of natural benefits and the joint efforts we should make to achieve them.
But perhaps the greatest shift is in our thinking and culture, in the recognition that human beings are no longer at the top of nature's food chain, that we no longer see nature as a consumable commodity, but that we are truly part of and dependent on nature.
Ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, a future that benefits humanity, a future that is more just and secure for us and future generations, is built on achieving carbon neutrality and nature-benefiting goals.
Thank you all for listening.
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