Ahead of the last round of CBD negotiations before the UN Biodiversity Conference COP15, The B Team and Business for Nature launch a joint brief called “Financing Our Survival: Building a Nature-Positive Economy through Subsidy Reform”. It summarizes the key messages from a study by subsidy experts Doug Koplow and Ronald Steenblik and aims to inform government and business decision making on Environmentally Harmful Subsidy (EHS) reform.

Government subsidies are created to benefit socioeconomic development, but what if they end up driving the destruction of nature, which our society and economy depend upon to survive and thrive?

Unfortunately, this is the very challenge we face today. A new study commissioned by The B Team and supported by Business for Nature reviewed a wide range of environmentally harmful subsidies across sectors and estimates that the world is spending at least $1.8 trillion a year, equivalent to 2% of global GDP, on subsidies that are driving the destruction of ecosystems and species extinction. In other words, public money is financing our own extinction.

However, with political determination and radical public-private sector collaboration, we can reform these harmful subsidies and create opportunities for an equitable, nature-positive and net-zero economy. To do so, we must bring awareness, transparency and disclosure on subsidies from both governments and business. The UN Biodiversity Conference COP15, taking place later this year in Kunming, China, is our best chance to adopt an ambitious Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework that includes clear language on subsidy reform and accelerates business action.
What are Environmentally Harmful Subsidies?

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies (EHS) are government programs that encourage unsustainable production or consumption and harm nature by exhausting natural resources, degrading global ecosystems, and damaging planetary health. These subsidies exist in various forms, from cash payments to government provision of credit, liability caps, special tax breaks or regulatory exemptions, or below-market provision of publicly owned goods or services.

EHS are prevalent in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, construction/housing, forestry, fossil fuels, marine capture fisheries, transport, and water. These sectors account for the vast majority of GHG emissions and impact ecosystems.