F1ES 4520 - Finance and Biodiversity.

International agreement being discussed ahead of COP15 on biodiversity in Kumning next year is aiming to place at least 30 percent of the Earth's surface under conservation status by 2030. How this target can be reconciled with the impacts and dependencies of the global economy to Nature : - 40% of the global economy directly depends on biodiversity (agri food, pharmaceuticals, textiles, energy, tourism, etc.) with business models that rely on continued natural resource availability are especially susceptible to biodiversity risk. - 90% of impacts on biodiversity loss come from the 6 sectors: consumer staples; basic materials; energy; industrials; consumer discretionary and utilities In order to align the global economy with the Paris climate agreement, financing needs are estimated at 1.6 - 3.8 trillion dollars per year. Today they are only $ 600 million. For biodiversity the needs are estimated at 720 - 960 billion dollars and they only amount to 120 - 140 billion dollars, or about 15% of the needs. The purpose of this course is to understand - the role and limits of finance to tackle, protect and restore natural capital and biodiversity, - the state of the art and challenges to reallocate capital toward a so-called Nature Positive economy - the risks and opportunities that the Financial sector need to embed to reallocate capital in line with the Convention on Biological Diversity's upcoming agreement. We will cover - how nature is priced, valued and financed; - the risks induced by nature loss are; - what is meant by financing nature positive activities; - and the drivers to do so: collective actions, voluntary coalitions, regulation, international engagements.

Marine DE BAZELAIRE DE RUPIERRE

Séminaire

English

Workload : At least 2 hours of personal work each week.

.Good understanding of sustainable development principles

Spring 2021-2022

Assessment:

2 technical or a controversial issues. Students will work in pairs and present during the session to the classroom (30%).
Participation and reactivity is expected and recommended.
Students are to
• Contribute to the debate following students presentation, using relevant sources such as brief analysis/summary of mandatory readings or press review (20%)
• Attend and participate actively to the course and debates (10%)
A final policy paper (40%) will be expected from a list of propositions or from your own proposition ( TBD by Session #5)

PEDAGOGICAL FORMAT - Each lecture will cover a theme, which will guide the discussion. - External experts will be invited to give keynote speeches - Preliminary reading will be provided before each lecture to ensure sufficient background.