By: Staff Writer
June 10, 2025
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a recent report that financial sectors in the Latin American and Caribbean region had largely failed to implement protections against nature-related risks, such as deforestation and biodiversity loss.
The report, “2024 Living Planet Report: A System in Peril,” said: “National biodiversity strategies and action plans are inadequate and lack financial and institutional support,” and to maintain a living planet where people and nature thrive, we need action that meets the scale of the challenge. We need more, and more effective, conservation efforts, while also systematically addressing the major drivers of nature loss. That will require nothing less than a transformation of our food, energy and finance systems.
The report also said: “Redirecting finance away from harmful activities and toward business models and activities that contribute to the global goals on nature, climate and sustainable development is essential for ensuring a habitable and thriving planet.
“Globally, over half of GDP (55 percent) – or an estimated US$58 trillion – is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Yet our current economic system values nature at close to zero, driving unsustainable natural resource exploitation, environmental degradation and climate change.
“Money continues to pour into activities that fuel the nature and climate crises: private finance, tax incentives and subsidies that exacerbate climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are estimated at almost US$7 trillion per year.”
The report added: “While global climate finance for the energy sector approached US$1.3 trillion in 2021/22, the need is a staggering US$9 trillion annually for both mitigation and adaptation through 2030.
“Similarly, the transition to a sustainable food system needs a huge increase in spending to US$390–455 billion annually from public and private sources – still less than governments spend each year on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies.
“Filling these gaps demands a seismic shift at global, national and local levels to get finance flowing in the right direction, away from harming the planet and toward healing it. We can do this in two mutually reinforcing ways.
“Financing green involves mobilizing finance for conservation and climate impact at scale, which will require new green finance solutions involving the public and private sector – from conservation-focused funds, bonds, loans and insurance products to long-term investment in nature-positive businesses and enterprises.
“Greening finance involves aligning financial systems to deliver nature, climate and sustainable development goals, including by accounting for the value of nature and systematically addressing nature- and climate-related risks