Forests, wetlands, mangroves and peatlands not only store roughly half of terrestrial carbon but also provide essential services—regulating water cycles, supporting biodiversity and buffering communities against climate extremes. Yet these systems are under unprecedented pressure.
Land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss weaken their capacity to absorb carbon and amplify climate risks, making the preservation and restoration of ecosystems central to meeting global climate targets.
Energy and food systems are among the main drivers of both climate change and nature loss. The WWF Living Planet Report 2024 documents a 73% decline in monitored wildlife populations over the past 50 years.
The urgency of action is stark. Over the past couple of years, global commitments to halt nature loss have grown in ambition.
At COP26 in 2021, 145 countries pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. More recently, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), established targets to restore ecosystems, conserve species, and promote sustainable land management.
COP30 presents a critical opportunity to translate these international frameworks into measurable climate and biodiversity outcomes. Potential outcomes for COP30 include reinforced commitments from governments to end deforestation, expand ecosystem restoration, and implement high-integrity finance mechanisms for nature-based solutions (NbS).
Green groups are also urging that COP30 goes further, emphasising that Indigenous Peoples, who safeguard much of the world’s biodiversity and support more than $44trn in ecosystem services, must have their land tenure rights legally recognised to strengthen forest protection and Indigenous leadership. Similarly, forests and other nature-based solutions must be central to updated NDCs, with targets aligned to the global to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
Brazil has already taken concrete steps to integrate nature into its climate strategy. In January 2025, the federal government introduced a new concession model to allocate deforested land to the private sector for restoration.
Corporate engagement is set to deepen with guidance from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), expected to publish key recommendations at COP30. Already, more than 500 businesses and financial institutions have pledged to align reporting with TNFD, while an additional 1,100 organisations publicly support its work, collectively representing around $20trn in assets under management.
Although TNFD-aligned reporting is not yet mandatory, many nations are likely to require large businesses to disclose nature-related risks and dependencies in the coming decade, in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework.
According to the WWF, agriculture, forestry and land-use sectors—responsible for roughly 20% of global emissions—offer particularly high-impact opportunities. Embedding deforestation-free and nature-positive practices across commodities such as soy, palm oil and beef can deliver measurable climate and biodiversity benefits.
Decline in monitored wildlife populations over 50 years.
ll
COP30 presents a critical opportunity to translate international frameworks into measurable climate and biodiversity outcomes.
In the run-up to COP30, there is also growing anticipation that the carbon market mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement will be fully operational. Once implemented, these rules are expected to facilitate investment in nature-based solutions by creating standardised, internationally recognised carbon credits.
Finance is critical for nature-based solutions. Private nature finance has surged elevenfold in four years, from $9.4bn to more than $102bn, reflecting growing momentum, though it remains far short of the $200bn per year target set by the Global Biodiversity Framework for 2030.
Most funding today comes from public sources, but private capital is essential to close the gap.
UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation project that $1.45trn could flow into biodiversity and nature finance by 2030, via alternative investments, traded debt, private equity and emerging instruments like biodiversity credits.
Brazil is working with the World Bank to launch the Tropical Forest Forever Facility at COP30, a new fund designed to channel money into forest conservation across the Global South. The plan is to attract about $25bn in public investment and another $100bn from private and philanthropic sources.