Private sector financing of biodiversity stressed

THE Philippines continues to advance and explore new ways to unlock finance for conservation and climate action through private sector investment.

This was disclosed by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Antonia Y. Loyzaga, underscoring the importance of private-sector collaboration in measures to protect and restore biodiversity.

Loyzaga, head of the Philippine delegation to the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, served as one of the panelists in Conservation International’s event, “Innovations for a Nature Positive and Net Zero Future.”

In that event held last December 14, the designated representative of President Ferdinand Romualdez R. Marcos Jr. said that traditional public sources of funding for biodiversity conservation are not sufficient. Loyzaga said this is the nexus that the private sector must be in.

The Philippine delegation is composed of officials from the Philippine Embassy in ottawa, Permanent Mission to the UN, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Tourism, Department of Agriculture, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and experts from civil society.

Loyzaga said the Philippines is focused on two general ways to encourage and enable private sector investment in addressing the biodiversity financing gap: adoption of a systemic, risk-based and whole-ofsociety approach; and the creation of a sustainable finance ecosystem.

A systemic, risk-based and wholeof-society approach underlines that biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development are inextricably linked, she said.

According to Loyzaga, more than 50 percent of global gross domestic product is linked directly to nature, but public sector funds support over 80 percent of annual spending.

“This challenge must be owned by all of us,” she said. “Each stakeholder —the whole of government, private sector, philanthropies, academia, non-government organizations and communities—needs to contribute to our sustained action.”

ESG goals

LOYZAGA said the Philippines is moving to institutionalize environmental social and governance (ESG) goals and operations and reporting through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Currently, ESG reporting is voluntary in the Philippines.

This as the DENR chief bared that the Philippines is now espousing direct targeted engagement to develop partnerships with the private sector for ESG goals and operations.

Loyzaga said debt-for-nature agreements are being implemented. She added that the offset agreements with Conservation International and Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) are being finalized to enable the identification and valuation of natural resources and ecosystem services. This in turn will provide P&G opportunities to reach its net-zero goal by 2050.

As for the construction of a sustainable finance ecosystem, Loyzaga shared that the Department of Finance (DOF) has already established a Sustainable Finance Roadmap.

This, she said, strengthened the synergies between the DOF, the SEC and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in enabling private financial institutions to issue green, development and social bonds and support projects that contribute to the just energy transition.