What COP17 agreed on nature, and what happens next

Governments at the UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan, Armenia, closed talks on 31 October 2026 with a plan to speed up efforts to halt nature loss by 2030.

They also acknowledged that the world is off track on almost all of the goals set four years ago.

The two-week conference, COP17, ran the first global review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the 2022 deal that set 23 targets for 2030. Fewer than half of the national targets assessed are on track. Protected areas cover about 19% of land and 10% of the oceans, against a goal of 30%.

The Yerevan Pathway

Governments answered with the Yerevan Pathway, a set of priorities to 2030. It calls for cutting subsidies that harm nature, getting more money to developing countries, aligning national budgets with biodiversity goals and tightening monitoring and reporting.

Subsidy reform drew the most political energy. Under Target 18, countries pledged to cut harmful incentives by at least 500 billion USD a year by 2030, yet the review found it to be the worst-performing target. Colombia and Finland will co-chair a new voluntary coalition, Friends of Target 18, to push reform.

Finance

This was the most divisive issue of the talks. Organisers announced nearly 2 billion USD in new funding. Governments agreed criteria for a future permanent financing mechanism, a review of the current funds and voluntary steps to widen the group of contributing countries. The estimated annual biodiversity financing gap remains about 700 billion USD.

One source meant to help narrow that gap is the Cali Fund, agreed at COP16 in 2024. It collects payments from companies that profit from genetic data drawn from nature, in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, at an indicative rate of 1% of profits or 0.1% of revenue. By the close of COP17, pledges stood at about 10,000 USD, against the fund's aim of raising at least 1 billion USD a year.

Contributions remain voluntary, but governments reaffirmed the indicative rates and agreed to issue certificates to companies that pay. Pharmaceutical, biotech and cosmetics companies that use genetic sequence data should check whether they fall within its scope.

What it means for business

COP17 created no new obligations for companies: its decisions are directed at governments. But several outcomes, and announcements made around the conference, matter for how companies assess, report and set targets on nature.

Subsidy reform

If governments follow through on Target 18, subsidies that support deforestation, overfishing or intensive farming could shrink or be redirected. Companies that depend on those inputs face a transition risk. That risk belongs in the double materiality assessment and in ESRS E4 disclosures. The LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a practical way to find where it sits in the value chain.

Disclosure

Under Target 15, governments committed to require or encourage large companies and financial institutions to assess and disclose their nature-related risks, impacts and dependencies. COP17 added no new requirements to it. In the same week, however, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) published draft nature-related disclosure requirements, built on the TNFD framework. Comments close on 19 February 2027. Companies already reporting under ESRS E4 will find much of the groundwork overlaps.

Target-setting

On 13 October, the TNFD, the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the Nature Positive Initiative released aligned updates, so one assessment can feed both disclosure and target-setting. SBTN's updated methods add more flexible routes, including narrower scopes, supplier engagement targets and step-by-step validation. More than 300 companies are working with SBTN's methods, and 18 have had targets validated.

What comes next

The focus now moves to national implementation, as governments turn the Yerevan Pathway into plans, budgets and laws. UN climate talks (COP31) open in Antalya, Turkey, on 9 November. Cooperation between the climate and nature conventions is on the agenda there, after countries postponed a decision on it in Yerevan.

The next biodiversity conference, COP18, will take place in Quito, Ecuador, in 2028. Before then, governments will review options for financing biodiversity after 2030, take stock of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund and review the Cali Fund.

Did COP17 move things forward for business?

Partly. In the short term, little changes: there are no new obligations, and the finance and Cali Fund figures show how far commitments still run ahead of money.

The direction, though, is consistent. Governments have made harmful subsidies a political priority, the ISSB has started formal work on nature disclosure, and the TNFD and SBTN frameworks now fit together. Nature is moving from a voluntary topic to a reporting and risk issue, and the tools to handle it are in place.