Making Peace with Nature

The end of the year is a special time to gather with loved ones, offering a moment to reflect on the year behind us, reconnect with what truly matters, and recharge for the opportunities ahead.

Looking back on this year, I feel grateful for experiences that have kept me grounded, those that may lead to audacious ambition, and all of which nurtured meaningful connections such as:   

• coaching my kids’ basketball teams and enjoying family time in Spain and Portugal;

• continuing to view client engagements as meaningful collaboration;

• enjoying every working day with the incredible teams at EcoAdvisors, EcoInvestors and Nature2; and,

• engaging in global Nature forums like the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) and last week’s discussion at Foundation House (pictured below).

My hope for 2025 is to build on experiences like these that foster growth, deepen relationships, and help me connect to communities here at home and around the world. In the wider global view of uncertainty, political change, and regional instability, the "Making Peace with Nature" theme needs to extend beyond the global stage of COP16 into our homes and daily lives. It’s an invitation to restore harmony with the natural world. Nature is the great unifier! A reminder that meaningful connections made close to home and afar are all intricately tied to the health of our planet, which ultimately underpins the health of humanity. 

We know the challenges.  I would like to reflect on a few achievements, ‘ah-ha’ moments (and reminders) and a look ahead.

Foundation House's second annual Cocktail & COP-tales celebration — a reflection on key outcomes from COP16 and COP29, while looking ahead to COP30 in Brazil. Discussions highlighted the need for blended finance to close funding gaps, the inclusion of Indigenous voices in global frameworks, and the importance of scalable, nature-based solutions. With optimism for systemic change, we explored pathways to align private capital and policy coherence for a sustainable future.

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2024 Achievements

1. Launch of Nature2 at the World Economic Forum in Davos

   
   

   Nature2 is a movement to raise awareness, stimulate demand, and enable asset owners to deploy 2% of global assets under management toward nature-positive investments. Throughout the year, Nature2 found its footing during Climate Week in New York and gained momentum at the UN Biodiversity COP16 in Cali.

   
   
   
   
   

   

Ah-ha moment and reminder: 

It is the moment to activate at scale. There is a collective energy around Nature. Rather than seeking incremental progress, it is time to create audacious step-change in the relationship between finance and nature.

What I’m looking forward to in 2025:  

In January, we will showcase Nature2’s progress and ambitions moving forward at several events including in Davos with the investor and business community, at the Grammy’s in Los Angeles, and various activations leading up to the NatGala at New York Climate Week in partnership with the Met, the release of a Nature Investing Playbook to help mainstream nature investing, and deployment channels available for COP30 in Belém.

2. Growing recognition of biodiversity's importance

The Biodiversity COP16 in Cali had the largest participation of the private sector and witnessed the following:

• Inclusion of Indigenous peoples and the role of Afro-descendant communities in all future Global Biodiversity Framework (The Biodiversity Plan) discussions and related decisions on nature conservation.  

• Creation of a new financial mechanism, the “Cali Fund”, to protect nature by distributing half of the proceeds to Indigenous peoples and local communities. The fund will be financed with payments from large companies, such as pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies, that use genetic data from nature. 

• Increasing need for capacity building - not just for communities at the front lines of environmental degradation, but for the holders of political power and financial capital. If you missed it, read my COP16 reflections: urgency and a little hope here.

Ah-ha moment and reminder: As my colleague Jane Hutchinson at Pollination Foundation shared during a panel discussion at COP16 together, we can only move at the speed of trust.  Systems-level change requires sustained effort from a diversity of people and organizations. 

What I’m looking forward to in 2025:  

• Helping to build capacity among these holders of political power and financial capital. Capacity building is often thought about at the supply side – but is a key enabler for turning ambitious goals into actionable, measurable outcomes from the demand side. 

• Leading, in partnership with Conservation International South Africa and various partners, a large-scale Southern African landscape conservation project that aligns with the Biodiversity Plan and knits together the very essence of ‘making peace with Nature’ – creating thriving nature-positive economies that both supports the protection of 4.8 million ha of critical habitat and ecological corridors and the millions of people living in these areas who depend on these ecosystems.

• The continuation of COP16 negotiations from February 25-27 in Rome to address a new Resource Mobilization Strategy and a monitoring framework.

3. Mobilizing resources for climate

The first “Finance COP”, Climate COP29 in Baku, saw a couple key milestones:

• A new global climate finance target, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) seeks to mobilize $300 billion annually from developed countries to developing countries by 2030, ramping up to $1.3 trillion by 2035. While the $300 billion annual target falls $90 billion short of what's needed to implement the Paris agreement, this makes the additional $1.3 trillion all the more vital.

• Establish the rules to operationalize Carbon Markets from how countries authorize carbon credit transactions to ensuring environmental integrity.

  
  

Ah-ha moment and reminder:  Climate and Nature are not oceans apart.  In fact, at COP16, the ocean was defined as the “great connector” between biodiversity and climate change. Whether it’s a Climate COP or a Biodiversity COP, integrating nature-based solutions into national biodiversity and climate plans is essential to amplify impact for a Net Zero and Nature Positive future.

What I’m looking forward to in 2025:

• At COP30 in Belém in November, a bolder response from governments and nonstate actors – with the essential contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities – to transition away from fossil fuels because the green energy transition is unstoppable. 

• On Carbon Markets, more positive public appreciation of the critical role carbon markets play when executed well. High-integrity carbon projects exist when created with the legal, technical, jurisdictional, policy, project, community, and transactional expertise; and the right sources of capital at the right time. Continued evolution of standards and verification, integrity supported by ICVCM, pricing moving commensurate with value. 

• On Nature Markets, we are already starting to see some “seeds of hope in nature credits”, as highlighted in this Wall Street Journal article. In partnership with Conservation International, our draft Framework for a high-integrity and equitable Nature Market can help guide the enabling policies and conditions needed to spur more success stories. Exploring opportunities to apply the framework in national and sub-national jurisdictions. 

• Progress toward a final UN Plastics Treaty at INC-5.2 that is set to reconvene and hammer out a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution. 

As we celebrate this holiday season, let’s embrace the progress, the 'ah-ha' moments and lean into those meaningful connections in your life that foster growth, deepen relationships, and connect to global communities. Let’s restore Peace with Nature and Peace within Ourselves. In doing so, I hope you feel recharged and ready for the opportunities ahead with renewed energy, purpose, and drive. 2025 is going to be our biggest and most important year yet – can't wait to continue this journey with you all!