Montreal, Canada- COP15 host, Canada, today announced CAD $255 million in global biodiversity finance after yesterday stating support for widespread calls for global biodiversity finance around USD $100 billion, a figure first proposed by the Africa Group in 2020 and supported by many developing countries and China. Sufficient global funding for biodiversity protections is a crucial step at COP15, where developing countries have at times walked out of proceedings due to a lack of commitment from wealthy nations.
An Lambrechts, Greenpeace International delegation leader for COP15, said:
"It's now up to wealthy nations to act. This position from Canada further highlights the serious biodiversity finance gap, and the EU and other Global North countries like Norway and Switzerland must step up. They've talked about global solidarity for two weeks now. Let's see if they mean it. This needs to trigger a global shift towards adequate finance for biodiversity protection. There isn't much time left at COP15."
The CAD $255 million now adds to last week's $350 million pledge.
