At a time when multilateralism is being undermined by increasingly brutal geopolitics, some emerging countries are currently spearheading renewed visions of international cooperation. This is the case of Lula's Brazil, which, after the G20 in 2024, currently chairs the BRICS1 and COP30 on climate change, to be held in November: Brazil wishes the economy of nature (or bioeconomy) to be at the heart of its development and promotes an international cooperation approach to do so. Bioeconomy is currently gaining political traction in developing and emerging countries (Ecuador, Colombia, South Africa, Southern African Development Community etc.), whose strategies reflect proposals for development based on the sustainable use of biodiversity and renewed relations between humans and nature. What are the political and financial conditions for these visions to become reality? And what role can the G20 and COP30 play?
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The BRICS summit will take place in Rio on 6 and 7 July.
Main goal: making development and biodiversity go hand in hand
The term ‘bioeconomy’ (IDDRI, 2025) covers all sectors based on the conversion and use of biomass: agriculture, forestry, energy (biofuels), fishing, green tourism, biotechnologies for health, food, materials, etc. As such, bioeconomy is not per se positive for biodiversity. For example, the production of biofuels through intensive monoculture leads to deforestation and overuse of water resources and chemical inputs. In terms of development, bioeconomy provides jobs, produces raw materials and generates cash flow through exports, particularly in the ‘traditional’ sectors of agriculture, energy and forestry. However, the dominant approaches may conflict with other priority expectations of local populations, such as food security or the preservation of traditional lifestyles.2
A complementary approach to bioeconomy that is gaining ground in international discussions responds more directly to biodiversity protection issues and the priority needs of territories. Sometimes referred to as ‘socio-bioeconomy’ or ‘indigenous economy’,3 this approach involves supporting the practices of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) at the heart of sustainable ecosystem management, in line with progress made at COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (IDDRI, 2024).
As for the G20, it adopted in 2024 high-level principles for the bioeconomy: while these are a step in the right direction, the challenge, which is considerable, will be to translate them into reality in the various sectors. This involves ensuring the transition of traditional productive sectors to greener practices (low CO2 emissions and biodiversity preservation) and finding ways to finance the socio-bioeconomy.
Establishing a domestic strategy and a platform for finance coordination
The ‘country platforms’, launched in 2018 under the German G20, aim to enable countries to structure a comprehensive development project based on a set of domestic policies and donor coordination. The South African G20 and the Brazilian COP30 are promoting this mechanism to address the challenges of low-carbon development financing.
At COP28 on climate change in 2023, Brazil launched its ecological transition plan, based on six pillars, including sustainable finance and bioeconomy. Ahead of the 2024 COP16 on biodiversity, Colombia launched a $40-billion plan to transition away from fossil fuels, including $8.5 billion to conserve and restore nature through the development of ecotourism, sustainable agriculture and ecosystem restoration. While the alignment of these initiatives with national biodiversity strategies and the details of the measures proposed remain to be examined, they illustrate the willingness of some States to highlight the link between development and biodiversity preservation in a low carbon pathway.
These plans are primarily domestic strategies based on a series of policies to support sector development, mobilize domestic fiscal resources, etc., which may be accompanied by regulatory changes. They are supported by the entire government, beyond the climate or biodiversity portfolios, and provide a framework for coordinating the various sources of financing, particularly international donors. The two countries have therefore set up ‘country platforms’: the Climate and Ecological Transformation Investment Platform in Brazil and a new generation of ‘Just Energy Transition Partnerships’ in Colombia.
These platforms can help link development, climate and biodiversity, provided that three key principles are respected:
developing activities that support ecosystem integrity and benefits for local populations;
building a coherent national strategy for climate, biodiversity and development, supported by domestic policies;
developing a strategy for raising funds and coordinating donors on this basis.
Supporting countries that lack the capacity to set up such platforms could be a priority for the development of the National Integrated Financing Frameworks established in 2015 as part of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The 4th Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Seville (Spain) from 30 June to 3 July 2025, could also make progress on this issue.
Two key players: finance ministries and development banks
With this dual objective of mobilizing internal and external financing, and in line with the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate, launched by the World Bank in 2019, Brazil is seeking to mobilize finance ministries. During its G20 presidency, it launched an initiative on the bioeconomy, aimed at placing the economy of nature within the international financial architecture, linking it to the political (sherpa) and financial tracks. The topic is being taken up by South Africa this year, turned towards the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In addition, to feed into the ‘Baku to Belém’ roadmap (IDDRI, 2024), which aims to increase climate finance from $300 billion to $1.3 trillion, Brazil launched a Circle of Finance Ministers in April 2025. It would be useful for this roadmap to fully integrate biodiversity financing issues, including beyond the historical focus of the climate COPs on tropical forest protection.4 Brazil aims to reach a joint position on climate finance as early as during the BRICS summit. While these discussions primarily concern climate, it should be noted that (1) their logic is consistent with CBD COP16 decision on resource mobilization (IDDRI, 2025), which seeks to move from a logic of financing biodiversity to a logic of mainstreaming biodiversity in finance, and that (2) development, climate and biodiversity objectives can and must be considered simultaneously, thus representing a comparative advantage for countries while improving their resilience to global changes.
Development banks’ strategies must also evolve towards better integration of biodiversity issues, as highlighted in the joint statement by multilateral development banks on nature, people and the planet at the climate COP26 in Glasgow (2021). Since then, the two main development banks in Latin America have launched plans to better integrate biodiversity into their strategies:
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched its strategy to accelerate the inclusion of natural capital and biodiversity in development projects, as well as support for indigenous peoples' bioeconomy initiatives. The Amazonia para la Vida fund also highlights the fact that bioeconomy policies must necessarily be decentralized to some extent, in line with the issue of direct access by indigenous peoples and local communities to biodiversity financing (IDDRI, 2024).
The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) has presented its new strategy for ecosystems, based on the establishment of long-term visions for 14 strategic ecosystems.
While the CBD’s ‘global review’ should report on progress and levers for acceleration ahead of COP17 at the end of 2026 (IDDRI, 2025), a focus on countries' needs to develop domestic financing and coordination strategies for sustainable development policies would be particularly useful, as would an analysis of the diversity of country platforms, particularly in terms of the capacities developed by countries to coordinate the integration of biodiversity across multiple sectors.
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Instituto Mapinguari, https://mapinguari.org/portfolio/destravapeapos/
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See Nobre, C.A. et al. (2023). New Economy for the Brazilian Amazon. São Paulo: WRI Brasil. Report available at: www.wribrasil.org.br/nova-economia-da-amazonia. https://doi.org/10.46830/wrirpt.22.00034en
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The Tropical Forest Forever Facility, promoted by Brazil for all developing countries with moist tropical forests on their territory, is an innovative global financial instrument that could be launched at COP30. It complements other mechanisms, such as REDD+.
