Introductory Overview
The ADSW Advisory Committee Insights Report: Nature and Biodiversity presents the outcomes of a dedicated session convened in 2026 under Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Hosted by Masdar, the session brought together leaders from business, academia, finance, civil society, and government to examine the accelerating global crisis of biodiversity loss and the structural changes required to address it.
The report situates biodiversity within the broader climate agenda, emphasizing that efforts to mitigate climate change and protect ecosystems have historically progressed on parallel tracks. Increasingly, policymakers and practitioners recognize that climate and nature are interdependent: progress in one domain reinforces the other, while setbacks in one undermine both.
Foreword: Aligning Climate and Nature Action
The report opens by referencing developments at COP28, which elevated the climate–nature nexus and reinforced linkages with biodiversity-focused global summits. Despite growing alignment in rhetoric, measurable biodiversity decline remains severe. According to figures cited in the report, there has been an average 69% loss in the abundance of mammal, bird, reptile, fish, and amphibian species globally between 1970 and 2022.
At COP16 in Rome in February 2025, over 140 countries agreed to mobilize $200 billion annually by 2030 to halt and reverse nature loss. This target represents a substantial increase compared to recent funding levels. However, with an estimated $700 billion annual biodiversity financing gap and only $15.4 billion in international biodiversity finance disbursed in 2022, the scale of the challenge remains significant.
The foreword frames the committee’s task as delivering a candid assessment of collective progress while identifying structural shifts necessary to transition toward a nature-positive future.
Building Standardized Frameworks
A central theme is the absence of unified measurement and reporting systems for biodiversity. Unlike carbon accounting, which benefits from standardized disclosure protocols, biodiversity impacts are measured through fragmented methodologies. This complexity creates barriers for companies, governments, and NGOs seeking to scale action.
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is highlighted as a major voluntary initiative providing structured guidance through 14 recommended disclosures and the LEAP process—Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare. Around 1,700 organizations are members of the TNFD Forum, and 520 companies and financial institutions have committed to reporting aligned with its recommendations.
While voluntary adoption is expanding, committee members emphasized that lasting impact requires regulatory mandates. Voluntary disclosures can demonstrate intent, but compliance-based frameworks are viewed as necessary to ensure allocation of resources and meaningful accountability.
The report also addresses illegal wildlife trade, described as the world’s fourth-largest illicit market. Several UAE-based firms in transportation and finance are integrating detection systems, staff training, public awareness campaigns, and collaboration with enforcement coalitions such as United for Wildlife MENA. Recognizing such initiatives within TNFD-aligned reporting could strengthen market incentives and enhance transparency.
Establishing standardized templates and government-backed baselines for biodiversity reporting is framed as foundational to scaling action. Transparency is positioned as the precursor to accountability.
Nature-Climate Integration
The committee underscored that climate and biodiversity strategies must not be siloed. Climate change threatens ecosystems, while intact ecosystems are critical to mitigation and adaptation. For example, restoring mangroves and wetlands can sequester carbon and support net-zero targets, while climate-related stressors such as drought can degrade biodiversity.
The UAE’s climate commitments, including its net-zero target by 2050, are highlighted as ambitious. However, the absence of an equivalent national biodiversity target or comprehensive strategy reflects an imbalance. The report stresses that integrating nature and climate goals at the policy level can prevent fragmented governance.
Environmental regulation in the UAE spans federal ministries, emirate-level authorities, and free zones, creating potential fragmentation. Initiatives such as the UAE Sustainable Finance Working Group demonstrate attempts to coordinate ESG standards across regulators.
From a strategic perspective, Middle Eastern markets are described as having an opportunity to design integrated policies from inception, rather than retrofitting biodiversity into mature climate frameworks. Upcoming global summits, including COP30 in Brazil, are expected to further embed biodiversity within climate discourse, reinforcing alignment between the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Unlocking Private Sector Financing
Mobilizing private finance is identified as the next major hurdle. Currently, 70–80% of biodiversity conservation funding globally comes from public sources. Meeting the $200 billion annual mobilization target will require significant private-sector participation.
Investor hesitancy stems from unclear revenue models and difficulty in quantifying returns. Unlike renewable energy projects that generate direct cash flows, ecosystem restoration often produces public goods such as flood protection or fisheries support, benefits not easily captured by a single sponsor.
The report references an example in Southeast Asia where a blended finance structure involving a corporation, a bank, and the United Nations enabled issuance of a $95 million bond to protect 400,000 hectares of forest. By distributing risks and aligning incentives, the project achieved financing below the host country’s sovereign borrowing cost.
Policy tools can also stimulate investment, including tax incentives, procurement preferences, and matched funding mechanisms. Public-private partnerships are presented as pragmatic structures capable of combining private-sector efficiency with public-sector mandates.
Recent data indicates momentum: private finance for nature-based investment reportedly surged from $9.4 billion to over $102 billion within four years, and biodiversity-focused funds have doubled in size and number over three years. Major asset managers overseeing more than $20 trillion have advocated for improved nature-risk assessment frameworks.
The report concludes that capital availability is not the primary constraint; structural barriers such as unclear metrics, perceived risk, and underdeveloped revenue models limit mobilization.
Nature-Based Solutions
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are characterized as multi-benefit interventions capable of delivering carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection, climate resilience, and socio-economic gains. Mangrove restoration in the UAE is highlighted as a leading example. Mangroves can store up to four times more carbon per hectare than tropical forests, while protecting coastlines and supporting fisheries.
The UAE has pledged to plant 100 million mangroves by 2030 and leads the Mangrove Alliance for Climate. While mangroves have gained significant attention, the committee emphasized that other ecosystems—including seagrasses, salt marshes, and sand dunes—also warrant protection.
Effective NbS must be locally adapted. In arid contexts such as the UAE, regionally appropriate techniques, including drip irrigation and hydrogel soil additives, are necessary. Rigorous documentation of outcomes can build investor confidence and facilitate replication.
By demonstrating the viability of NbS in challenging climates, governments can position ecosystem restoration as a mainstream element of infrastructure and adaptation planning rather than as niche projects.
Biodiversity Markets
The development of biodiversity credits or offset markets is explored cautiously. While carbon markets offer a conceptual template, biodiversity differs in being location-specific and multidimensional. Creating fungible credits presents significant complexity.
The UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) policy is cited as an example of a regulated national approach. Developers must deliver at least a 10% net gain in biodiversity, either onsite or through purchase of offsite credits within national boundaries. This model reinforces mitigation hierarchies and maintains ecological relevance.
By contrast, global biodiversity credit trading is viewed as highly problematic. Risks include greenwashing, equivalence challenges, and potential adverse social impacts such as land appropriation. The committee emphasized that biodiversity markets should follow strict mitigation hierarchies and remain localized where possible.
Given ongoing transparency and trust challenges in carbon markets, biodiversity markets require particularly rigorous safeguards to achieve credibility.
Key Takeaways
The report concludes that biodiversity is rising on corporate agendas, but credible metrics and compliance-based frameworks are essential to translate awareness into action. Climate and biodiversity objectives must be aligned in both national strategies and corporate plans.
Private capital is available but requires structured projects, credible revenue models, and clear policy signals. Nature-based solutions offer scalable, multi-benefit interventions when implemented appropriately. Biodiversity markets hold promise but demand careful, locally grounded design and strict oversight.
Closing Synthesis
The committee’s discussions reflect a transition point in global sustainability governance. Recognition of nature’s economic and ecological value is expanding, yet mobilizing the scale of finance and regulatory alignment required remains a complex undertaking. Progress depends on standardized disclosure, integrated climate-nature policy, innovative financial structures, and disciplined market design. Achieving a nature-positive future will require coordinated effort across governments, investors, and corporations, guided by transparency, accountability, and long-term ambition.
