Biodiversity Loss and Ecosystem Degradation: Implications for Macroeconomic and Financial Stability 2022 | United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) | 26 May 2022 | Webinar

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), more than half of the global GDP – $44 trillion each year – is ‘moderately or highly dependent on nature and the services it provides. At the same time, the pace of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation is advancing at an alarming rate (IPBES, 2019). Central banks, supervisors of the financial system and organizations at the international and local levels are increasingly recognizing the fundamental role played by biodiversity for macroeconomic and financial stability. However, this is still a largely neglected issue for most of these institutions, and thus absent from standard economic and financial analysis.

To bridge this knowledge and action gap, several challenges need to be addressed, such as lack of standards and political guidance; limited tools to measure, disclose and manage financial risks related to nature; the complexity of systematizing multi-dimensional sources of information; and the scarcity of analytical tools to incorporate biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation into the standard economic analysis; among others.

In response to these challenges, study and working groups and specialized initiatives have been created to support research, capacity building, development of technical content and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.

It is in this context that the Central Bank of Chile, together with the Greening the Financial Regulation Initiative of the World Wildlife Fund and UNEP FI, are co-organizing a two-day long conference to delve into these issues and communicate the ideas and visions of the leading experts on the multiple fields involved in this urgent interdisciplinary challenge.

The conference will take place virtually (Zoom) divided into four sessions of 90 min each, as well roundtable discussions around each topic of 60 min each. The Conference will be held in English & Spanish, with simultaneous translation into both languages.

Target Audience: Regulatory authorities, members of the financial system, and academics in finance, economics.

Objectives:
• Demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for macroeconomics and the financial system
• Analyze and exemplify the main challenges and opportunities in terms of long-term economic growth and financial risks related to biodiversity through the presentation of real
case studies
• Present an introduction about the methodologies and tools on how to measure and incorporate biodiversity and natural capital into standard macro-financial analysis, with a
view to promoting a sustainable regulatory agenda that covers broader issues to climate change.