Building Partnerships for Biodiversity Finance: Aligning Incentives and Mobilizing Resources towards 2030

Date: Friday, 23 October 2026

Time: 3:00-7:30PM (4 hours incl cocktail t (Parts A & B plus two 15-minute break), followed immediately by a Sunset Reception on Nature Finance

Location: GEF Pavilion

Jointly organized by: GEF and UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN)

Summary of the Event

With 2030 approaching, aligning economic incentives with biodiversity objectives and accelerating the mobilization of financial resources are both critical enabling conditions for delivering the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). This GEF Pavilion afternoon brings together two linked sessions and an informal networking reception to trace this challenge from ambition to action.

Part A turns to Target 18. Subsidies and other economic incentives have a powerful influence on how economies interact with nature: when public finance and incentives are aligned with biodiversity objectives, countries can use limited public resources more effectively while strengthening food and water security, supporting livelihoods and protecting the ecosystems on which development depends. This session examines the practical tools governments are already using to screen and green subsidies, assess their effects on biodiversity, and scale up positive incentives — and the institutional, political-economy and behavioural factors that shape those decisions.

Part B builds directly on Part A, shifting the focus to Target 19 and how countries are translating ambition into resourced action. Following a keynote on scaling resource mobilization towards 2030, the session showcases how the GEF family of funds and programmes are working together to deliver results on the ground, including the complementarity between BIOFIN and the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), Early Action Support (EAS) in support of NBSAP updates and Seventh National Reports (7NR), and highlights country experiences in accessing the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF). The session closes with an interactive, small-table peer-exchange roundtable, giving delegates a structured opportunity to compare notes and build connections directly with one another before the closing reflections.

The afternoon closes with an informal Sunset Reception, Finance Solutions Exchange, where delegates can continue the conversation directly with country teams and BIOFIN National Coordinators around hosted stations, take away Finance Solutions Postcards, and connect with the partners who can help take emerging solutions forward.

By Attending, Participants Will

• Knowledge exchange on how countries are screening and reforming environmentally harmful subsidies, and scaling up positive incentives, in line with Target 18.
• Learn how countries have accessed the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), and gain a clearer understanding of the opportunities within GEF-9 to support both incentive reform and resource mobilization.
• Discuss the institutional, political-economy and behavioural factors that shape subsidy and finance decisions, and how partnerships, evidence and communications can help overcome them.
• Engage informally with country teams, BIOFIN National Coordinators and partners at the closing Finance Solutions Exchange reception, and take away curated country stories and opportunities for further engagement.

Target Audience

National delegates, policymakers, donors, development partners, financial institutions and practitioners engaged in biodiversity finance, subsidy reform and resource mobilization, as well as other stakeholders attending CBD COP17.

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