The 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium: As it happened
Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,657 participants from 162 countries, 106 speakers, 100 global and local partner organizations, and reached 15 million people on social media, with more than 330 thousand engagements, around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises.
Across 37 plenaries, expert sessions, special announcements, networking sessions, dialogues, onsite presentations, and inspirational talks, the event sparked vibrant conversations on the state of sustainable finance in 2023, including the latest innovations, success stories, investable projects and much more.
You need to understand the region you are investing in. Any fund or investment instrument that comes in has to be based on local knowledge and networks. The second piece around informality [of smallholders and agribusinesses] is that we need to create structures that help address that. There is a huge space for information exchange, technical assistance, grants support that really help build that capacity to formalize and be able to attract that finance that does exist.
We want to implement a value chain approach because that brings socioeconomic benefits.
It is not just about mobilizing finance: it is about inclusive finance and ensuring that everyone has access to it. By harnessing local, national and regional markets through developing collectives, identifying new markets and diversifying revenue streams, we can change the still-dominant globalized North-South trade model.
Sustainable finance standards are going in the right direction, but still too slowly, focused on the short term and geared towards maximizing present profit at the expense of the future.
Indigenous Peoples receive less than 1% of climate finance, even though many studies have demonstrated that the most effective way to protect biodiversity is by securing Indigenous lands. Smallholder farmers in developing countries receive only 1.7% of climate finance, yet they are the ones who feed the world – 80% of Latin America's food comes from them.
Our planet and ecosystems are stressed and have reached a tipping point due to our own activity. Climate change and biodiversity loss pose an existential threat to humanity. We must attend to this looming catastrophe with extreme urgency and resolve. Greenwashing, green wishing and other figleaves will not solve the problem. We must be bold.
Whereas governments must become bolder and more ambitious in their decision making and in the delivery of financial means and enabling environments, the private sector must play a critical role when it comes to directing finance flows towards a more sustainable, biodiversity-friendly, climate-neutral and just pathway.
Explore investable nature-based projects
Are you an investor looking for a project to make a difference with? Explore your options, including three projects that featured in our special Dragons’ Den session at the event.
Or if you’re a nature-based project looking for funding, simply reach out and we’ll find you the support you need.
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