IPBES assessments: economic and financial systems need to evolve to protect biodiversity and support transformative change

The IPBES Nexus and Transformative Change assessments highlight a critical imbalance in global finance, where trillions of dollars support activities damaging nature while conservation funding remains severely inadequate. With over half of global GDP dependent on nature, the reports argue for systemic economic reforms, including the elimination of harmful subsidies, the internalisation of environmental externalities, and increased financial flows to Indigenous Peoples and developing nations to mitigate systemic risks.

• Global economic stability is highly vulnerable to nature loss, as approximately USD 58 trillion—representing more than 50% of the 2023 global GDP—is generated by sectors that are moderately or highly dependent on nature.
• There is a massive disparity between financial flows that harm biodiversity and those that protect it. While USD 7 trillion is invested annually in activities that damage biodiversity, and public subsidies for nature-declining sectors ranged between USD 1.4 trillion and USD 3.3 trillion in 2023, annual funding for biodiversity improvement is only between USD 135 billion and USD 200 billion.
• The fossil fuel, agriculture, and fisheries sectors generate annual negative externalities estimated between USD 10 trillion and USD 25 trillion, impacting climate change, health, food security, water, and biodiversity.

APA

Team, Z. (2025). IPBES assessments: economic and financial systems need to evolve to protect biodiversity and support transformative change. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/ipbes-assessments-economic-and-financial-systems-need-to-evolve-to-protect-biodiversity-and-support-transformative-change/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. IPBES assessments: economic and financial systems need to evolve to protect biodiversity and support transformative change. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2025. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/ipbes-assessments-economic-and-financial-systems-need-to-evolve-to-protect-biodiversity-and-support-transformative-change/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=IPBES assessments: economic and financial systems need to evolve to protect biodiversity and support transformative change |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=20 January 2025 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/ipbes-assessments-economic-and-financial-systems-need-to-evolve-to-protect-biodiversity-and-support-transformative-change/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2025ipbes, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{IPBES assessments: economic and financial systems need to evolve to protect biodiversity and support transformative change}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/ipbes-assessments-economic-and-financial-systems-need-to-evolve-to-protect-biodiversity-and-support-transformative-change/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }