Fostering networks between the finance sector and CBD in Mexico

On June 17 and 18, 2021, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) organized he Financial Sector and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework workshop. The forum had the objective of bringing the financial sector closer to the community of supervisors, negotiators and technical bodies of the Convention on Biological Diversity to improve intersectoral communication and learn about experiences and challenges for the integration of sustainability criteria within the financial sector.

Mr. José Antonio Quesada Palacios, Vice President of Mexico’s Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV, for its acronym in Spanish) participated in the panel on the role of governments and regulators in enabling financial institutions and investors to align funds towards biodiversity. During his speech, the vice president presented CNBV's agenda, mentioning that the Commission is actively working to internalize the disclosure of financial and non-financial information on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. In the case of the first theme, risks and opportunities related to the loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, climate change and water scarcity are included.

Currently, the Commission participates in international groups and initiatives on financing and environmental risks, such as the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the United Nations Global Compact, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Expert Working Group on Climate-related Security Risks (TCFR) of and the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

In this regard, BIOFIN accompanied the Commission to become a part of the TNFD and is currently supporting the integration of indicators and methodologies that go beyond climate related risks to internalize biodiversity into the financial sector from a regulatory point of view. It has also been collaborating in researching and proposing actions to adopt ESG criteria within and to identify best regulatory practices to strengthen the resilience of the financial system.

Mr. Quesada closed his participation by mentioning that it is necessary to broaden the focus beyond the climate change agenda, and that, without rapid and systemic change, the loss of biodiversity will increasingly distort the world economy. The aforementioned actions, are a strong starting point in addressing these issues.