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The UN Biodiversity Conference will take place in mid-October in Cali, Colombia. In November, the world will gather for tough climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan. The talks will seek solutions to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. The situation is serious, but there is still room to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and curb global heating.
Sitra’s experts are actively following these international negotiations both in Finland and on the ground. They are also happy to provide background information and comments to the media.
Although the negotiations at the UN climate and nature conferences take place at different times and around different tables, they are all about the same critical issue: global heating is causing biodiversity loss, and biodiversity loss is undermining our ability to mitigate global heating.
The circular economy is one of the key tools that works both to reduce climate emissions and to mitigate biodiversity loss. The biodiversity and climate conferences will be followed in spring 2025 by the World Circular Economy Forum WCEF, which Sitra and its partners will bring for the first time to South America: São Paulo, Brazil. The conference will also pave the way for the UN climate negotiations in Belem, Brazil, at the end of 2025 and provide an opportunity to bring business and industry on board to build a circular economy – a crucial element without which climate work will not progress fast enough.
The fight against biodiversity loss is global – a checkpoint for actions in Cali, Colombia
In December 2022, the world received good news: an international agreement had been reached in Montreal, Canada, to halt biodiversity loss and improve the state of nature by 2030. This so-called Kunming-Montréal Biodiversity Framework, negotiated under the auspices of the UN, created a system for action by governments and businesses to halt biodiversity loss.
October–November 2024 will be the first review point after Montreal. The so-called COP (Conference of Parties) will take place in Cali, Colombia. It is a natural location, as Colombia is a hotbed for biodiversity and has been active in international biodiversity policy for many years. Colombia has a significant Indigenous population, and Indigenous rights will feature prominently in the negotiations.
The review of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) will be at the top of the agenda for the Cali meeting. NBSAPs are national plans drawn up by each country to halt biodiversity loss. International funding for nature conservation and global sharing of the benefits of genetic resource use will also be negotiated. The European Commission’s President’s initiative to promote biodiversity credits has attracted much discussion and will certainly be the subject of a heated debate, at least in the corridors.
The health benefits of nature – how biodiversity supports our physical and mental health – are also on the agenda. Sitra will organise a discussion on this topic in Finland (in Finnish) around the time of the conference.
Sitra, EK, Paulig, S Group and WWF Finland are jointly organising a discussion at the Cali conference site on how Finnish society has taken concerted action to halt the loss of nature.
How much is enough? Baku climate conference to decide on new funding target
The UN climate negotiations this year have a clear top priority: money. The meeting in Azerbaijan will seek agreement on how much aid will be channelled to countries hit by the climate crisis in the future and whether the pool of donors will expand from the current level.
The climate is heating up at a dangerous rate. The effects are becoming more visible in people’s daily lives every year. There is no time for mid-term meetings in international climate negotiations; progress is needed at every conference.
In Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024, the focus will be on forging a new climate finance goal which is especially important for poor countries. The old commitment of $100 billion a year is about to expire, so there is a sense of urgency for a new agreement. There are disputes over whether to increase the pool of contributors, including big powers like China and India or rich oil-producing countries. There are also differences of opinion over the amount of funding and where it should be channelled.
Last year, the Dubai climate talks achieved a historic breakthrough when countries agreed to divest from fossil fuels. Now Baku should decide how to put this policy into practice.
Azerbaijan, the country chairing the meeting, is a fossil fuel-producing authoritarian state that has not traditionally excelled in climate action. It remains to be seen how it will manage to steer the negotiations to the finish line. Also, the difficult security situation in the Middle East casts a shadow over the host country, which borders Iran to the south and Russia to the north.
The World Circular Economy Forum WCEF2025 presents solutions to tackle both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss
In 2025, both the World Circular Economy Forum WCEF and the UN climate negotiations will take place in Brazil, the largest country in South America. This will be the first time that the forum will be held in Latin America. At the Dubai climate conference, the circular economy was identified as one of the ways to reduce emissions. Sitra’s study shows circular economy interventions in four key sectors can halt global biodiversity loss and tackle the root causes of the climate crisis. Material cycles also play a key role in curbing climate emissions.
WCEF2025 will take place between the 2024 climate and nature conferences and the 2025 nature negotiations in São Paulo, Brazil, from 13 to 16 May 2025. The forum will bring together key circular economy players from around the world to present solutions to tackle the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. It will also bring business and industry closer to other sectors to build a circular economy, without which climate action will not progress fast enough.
The upcoming forum will focus on themes such as the bioeconomy, energy, education, business models, materials and finance. The best circular economy solutions in the region will also be showcased. The WCEF2025 conference is jointly organised by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), the Brazilian Agency for Trade and Investment Promotion (Apex-Brasil), the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and Sitra.
The WCEF also serves as a meeting place for Sitra’s international partners. For example, the WCEF’s scientific partner, the International Resource Panel (IPR), will hold their own meeting in São Paulo during forum week. This meeting will bring together international scientists and government representatives to discuss natural resource issues. The IRP is an international scientific panel under the UNEP that produces research to promote sustainable use of natural resources.
Sitra is the founder of the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) and an active participant in the UN nature and climate conferences. Our message to the international fora is clear: the circular economy is the only viable economic model that tackles biodiversity loss, the climate crisis and overconsumption of natural resources at the same time. However, successful implementation of the circular economy requires an approach that involves all stakeholders.
