A few weeks ago, I participated in the semi-annual “Convention on Biological Diversity conference” in Cali, Colombia. The Biodiversity COP or COP16 in its United Nations shorthand, was the sixteenth Conference of the Parties of the original Convention, spanning two weeks and reportedly attracting 24,000 participants from over 196 countries (or parties).
The Biodiversity COP is like the Lollapalooza of protecting nature. Environmentalists, policymakers, scientists, indigenous groups, politicians, and international donors descend on a massive festival of panels, cocktails, and dealmaking meant to save what is left of the planet’s dwindling supply of flora and fauna. As a credentialed delegate of the Dominican Ministry of Environment and supported by the German Development Corporation (GIZ), representing the private sector, I caught two full days of COP16, which represented only a smattering of the head spinning total of simultaneous events.
Jake Kheel and the Minister of Environment of the Dominican Republic Armando Paino Henriquez
The Biodiversity COP is not typically the stomping grounds of businesspeople. Despite what was widely considered a greater emphasis on involving the private sector through dedicated sessions like “Finance Day” and the “Business and Biodiversity Forum”, I listened to speaker after speaker lament the relative paucity of businesspeople at COP16, compared to other stakeholders.
Former CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman, who wrote the book “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take,” was a forceful exception. In his keynote address at the Business and Biodiversity Forum, he outlined the gap between where we are and where we need to get to truly protect nature.
“Each year, $7 trillion of capital is still directed towards activities that damage ecosystems, while only $20 billion is channeled towards their
repair. Nature finance is woefully insufficient and inequitable, accounting for only 2% of climate finance. Investment in emerging markets and developing economies is virtually none…. This is totally mad. By failing to effectively value the natural world, we are in truth orchestrating, financing, and subsidizing our own destruction. The next stage perhaps is to create a UN taskforce to draft our collective eulogy.”
Former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman speaks at the Business and Biodiversity Forum
Not only are there plenty of companies deeply engaged in biodiversity conservation, but in fact many companies, like Grupo Puntacana, where I work, have been doing it for a long time. Not only that, but meetings like COP were once fertile ground for convincing leaders to integrate nature protection into their businesses.
Grupo Puntacana’s environmental origin story began in 1992 at the landmark UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janiero, later dubbed the “Earth Summit.” GPC’s founder, Ted Kheel, though a heavy hitter in civil rights and numerous social causes,
was admittedly an environmental neophyte. Ted attended the Earth Summit more as a favor to his friend Maurice Strong, the UN Sectetary General at the time, than as an eco-crusader.
Theodore Kheel, Maurice Strong and Robert Rauschenberg at the Earth Summit in Rio de Jainiero
However, Ted was so influenced and concerned by what he heard, he proceeded to spend the remaining twenty-five years of his life backing solutions to what he considered “the most urgent conflict facing humanity today: the conflict between economic development and environmental protection.” Ted became an environmental activist, philanthropist, and thought leader. He leveraged his friendships with artists, business associates, and renowned scientists to support environmental protecting in all kinds of unique ways.
The Puntacana Foundation, buoyed by Ted and Frank’s support, has become a Dominican “skunkworks” over the last 30 years, acting as an environmental problem-solving unit within the larger company. (The term skunkworks, originally credited to the Lockheed Martin company, is now widely used in business to describe a relatively small group of people, generally within a larger corporation, who research and develop projects with a large degree of autonomy, primarily for the sake of radical innovation). FPC's experiments and projects seek to make the business more environmentally sustainable, while protecting the critical species and habitats that make it profitable in the first place.
Obviously, there is still much more to be done. After years of being considered outsiders at the Biodiversity COPs, it is heartening to see the community gradually open its arms to business and the private sector. However, real progress requires not only that the environmental community welcomes and embraces the potential of business to contribute to biodiversity conservation, but for business leaders to direct real capital towards protecting nature. In other words, we need more Paul Polmans and Ted Kheels in a couple of years at COP17.