What was the ‘nature’ of Davos this year?

Photo: Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil, speaking in the Finding a Balance for the Amazon session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 16 January, 2024. Aspen 2. Copyright: World Economic Forum / Boris Baldinger

It has been widely reported that Davos was dominated by the debate on artificial intelligence this year – with more than 25 events on the topic. This isn’t surprising given a new report from the International Monetary Fund’s that says AI will impact 40% of the world’s jobs and that Davos is, by definition, focused on economic matters.

But for those who were following the agenda closely, there were equally important (although less reported) events taking place and announcements made on nature – which underpins nearly all economic activity on Earth. In fact, S&P’s Global Sustainable data finds that 85% of companies in the S&P Global 1200 have a significant dependency on nature across their direct operations.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report – launched as a curtain raiser to Davos every year – cited biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the top three risks over the next decade. The resulting impact could be a decline in global GDP of $2.7 trillion annually by 2030 – an economic downturn that would have a devastating effect on security, poverty, social well-being and equality.

On the upside, there were positive indicators of change that more companies (although still too few) are beginning to absorb the reality of their dependencies on nature – and the implications of that – in the same way that climate change has become an integral part of decision making for most businesses on the planet.

Here are five themes from the nature-related sessions and outcomes from Davos this year:

1. Unusual excitement about standards, risk and disclosure

The nature announcement that got the most attention was from TNFD – the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. More than 320 organizations from 46 countries – including companies, financial institutions, banks, and insurers – have agreed to adopt TNFD’s recommendations into their annual corporate reporting between 2023 and 2025. A less-reported announcement came from UNEP-FI, which launched its new Risk Centre for financial institutions that will develop practical tools, case studies, guides and frameworks for analyzing and managing risk across climate change, nature, pollution and social issues. The Forum also launched a new CEO Action Group for Nature to foster collective action between sectors to implement nature-positive strategies.

“We are starting to see a real movement around real action on nature-related risks.” David Craig, Chair, TNFD

2. Money matters but does nature matter more?

Relatedly, there were events on how to close the finance gap for nature – focusing on the need for systemic change, the role of carbon markets, and the potential for nature markets. Biodiversity credits is always a hot topic these days, and the Forum continues to play a role in convening experts to help catalyze this nascent market. There were sessions on putting a price on nature and valuing natural capital. Other highlights that stand out were the events co-hosted by the Landbanking Group on the Doconomy Stage on topics such as Nature Investment 2:0 and putting nature on the balance sheet, or the event co-hosted by Conservation International and the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group on the role of collaboration in mobilizing private capital . Elsewhere, the Nature 2 initiative was launched, with the aim of investors committing to transition 2% of their portfolio allocation to nature.

“The market and people have forgotten where wealth actually comes from. Wealth comes from extracting resources from Mother Earth. And if those resources are extracted endlessly, we will have no economy, no people, no community.”
Xiye Bastida, Founder, Re-Earth Initiative

3. Deep dive on Nature tech

Nature tech continues to attract excitement and investment interest – and there was an active group of nature tech pioneers making their presence felt at Davos. Event topics included the role of data and tech in carbon and nature markets, food and regenerative agriculture, and the blue economy. But there were also tangible examples of the sector’s growing potential such as the Nature Tech Alliance launched by Salesforce, Planet, ERM, and Nature Metrics. UBS released a white paper Bloom or Bust about the need to align technology and finance to meet biodiversity challenges, published alongside a Natural Allies paper from The Nature Conservancy focused specifically on natural climate solutions. Perhaps most exciting was the ‘Live From the Deep Sea’ panel where technology was used to broadcast live from 350 meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean.

“Banks and corporates and ecologists and NGOs are all very suspicious of one another. The biggest role that data can play really is in providing something to coalesce around.” Kat Bruce, Founder, Nature Metrics.

4. The hard ground truth about land use

‘Land use’ is the less shiny side of the ‘nature positive’ coin. While many organizations are keen to understand how nature-positive strategies can work, many are still grappling with land-use change, such as deforestation caused by agricultural commodities. The transition here remains as hard to make as any hard-to-abate sector. At Davos, there were important sessions on soil, land use and forests but these are topics that don’t always attract attention at the highest levels. However, there are signs that this is beginning to change. An unlikely advocate, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said that “soil is literally at the root of many pressing national security challenges that we face…without good soil, crops fail, prices rise, people go hungry”. And in a session on the systemic change required to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, the heads of the IMF and World Bank were in tandem on these topics.

“There are growing, competing demands for land – for food, fuel, fiber and feed, and of course rural jobs… If we don’t get this sector right, no matter what else we do with the energy transition, we will still not reach the critical tipping point for the planet of 1.5 degrees.”
M. Sanjayan, Chief Executive Officer, Conservation International

5. Attention on the Amazon remains evergreen

Some things don’t change: the Amazon remains a bellwether for ecological and Indigenous issues, and debate at Davos re-emphasized its significance (sometimes to the disadvantage of other important biomes like the Cerrado or Chaco). There were many sessions which included discussion on the Amazon region as well as those focused on Brazil’s ecological transition plan more broadly. Brazil’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, advocated for focusing on the value provided by nature rather than the cost of preserving it, using the Amazon’s ability to regulate rainfall in Latin America as an example. In other sessions, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, focused on practical efforts to balance production and protection agendas such as the cattle transparency programme in his own state. Indigenous leader Fany Kuiru, who is the first woman to lead the Co-ordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations (COICA), stressed the role that Indigenous peoples play, emphasizing the knowledge systems and cultural wealth of the 500 different Indigenous groups in the Amazon.

“The Amazon has to become a place for solutions – for balancing the world’s climate, for setting up a new paradigm shift. There is a need to diversity economic models, and part of this diversification includes environmental services. We need technology and finance investment to develop a bioeconomy model, but paired with ethical commitments.”
Marina Silva, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Brazil