Paying Twice: The Fiscal Case for Reforming Nature-Harming Subsidies
Location: Main Room
Organizers: Conservation International (CI)
(Reception) Launch of CI's new report showing that subsidies that work against nature are both a fiscal and environmental risk and how redirecting a fraction could unlock the largest available source of biodiversity finance.
This reception marks the global launch of a new policy report from Conservation International’s ARTSI Initiative that reframes the subsidies damaging nature as one of the largest overlooked risks to public finance – and one of the largest untapped opportunities to fund biodiversity. Governments spend an estimated $2.1 – $2.9 trillion a year on subsidies that inadvertently harm nature, while the hidden costs of that damage run four to eleven times higher; global nature-positive finance, by comparison, stands at just $230 billion. The report’s message is that reform is a fiscal correction – governments can spend better, not more – and it offers a practical agenda for progress on GBF Target 18. The evening opens with a presentation of the headline findings, followed by a networking reception.