Overview
- Delegates representing nearly 200 countries approved a first global stocktake and an action plan to speed delivery of the 2022 Kunming–Montreal biodiversity targets after protracted talks that ran late into the conference.
- The final texts were watered down during negotiations, with contested language on harmful subsidies, human rights references and indigenous participation weakened or removed following blocking by some delegations.
- Financing remained the hardest issue because states never agreed to firm new public pledges and left donor definitions vague, so the roughly $700 billion per year shortfall for meeting 2030 targets is effectively unclosed.
- Private‑sector mechanisms performed poorly in practice: the Cali Fund, set up to capture corporate contributions, has raised about $10,000 against a $1 billion annual ambition, exposing limits to voluntary corporate finance.
- Ecuador won a secret ballot to host COP18 in Quito in 2028, and observers say the deal’s limited commitments mean nations must now deliver concrete domestic actions and new funding mechanisms ahead of the next round to avoid missing 2030 goals.