A side event during the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) aimed at bridging the divide between climate and biodiversity policy by exploring ways to align the efforts of the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Speakers stressed the role of science in underpinning coherent policymaking, the centrality of nature-based solutions (NbS) for achieving climate goals, and the need for stronger institutional and financial mechanisms to align climate and biodiversity action.

The event themed, ‘From Trade-offs to Synergies: Aligning Climate and Biodiversity Policies,’ convened on 11 November 2025. It was organized by Oxford University, WWF International, Greenpeace International, and SOS Mata Atlântica.

Moderator James Allen, Executive Director, OLAB, a Brazilian food and forests strategic consulting firm, reflected on the institutional divide between the Conventions, which have different sets of parties, mandates, and funding streams. Yet, he added, their objectives are deeply intertwined, since biodiversity loss drives and is driven by climate change.

The first panel focused on translating scientific understanding into concrete national examples, particularly from Brazil. Speakers called for an integrated vision grounded in both science and moral responsibility, urged collaboration with Indigenous and local communities, and explained how three-quarters of Brazil’s emissions come from land-use-related activities, mainly deforestation. They highlighted that: preventing disturbances in existing forests delivers high carbon and biodiversity benefits at low cost, while restoration alone cannot compensate for continued degradation; and keeping regrown forests standing is relatively inexpensive, but requires strong policies and sustained investment.

One speaker outlined findings that, in 2023 and 2024, Amazonian burned flooded forests covered an area larger than all deforested land combined, releasing emissions several times greater than Kenya’s annual emissions. Participants agreed much forest degradation in Brazil remains legally permitted, underscoring the need for stronger regulation and governance.

The second panel focused on political and institutional dimensions of integrating climate and biodiversity agendas. Fernanda Carvalho, WWF International, called for a “nature package” to emerge from COP 30, combining scaled-up finance for nature-based and ocean action, a climate and nature programme under the UNFCCC, and strong implementation through national commitments. 

Other speakers:

• called for a formal mandate to maximize synergies among the Rio Conventions and for more funding to Indigenous and local communities;
• noted forest-related work under the UNFCCC is scattered across multiple workstreams and should be unified under a single roadmap;
• described the “synergies agenda” as part of Brazil’s vision for COP 30, bridging mitigation and adaptation while connecting local experimentation with international cooperation; and
• affirmed Colombia is advocating for a formal UNFCCC agenda item on interlinkages between biodiversity, climate, and land, and a dedicated mechanism to ensure policy coherence.

Rita de Cássia Mesquita, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Brazil, said synergy represents a path toward peace and toward new economic models, such as the sociobioeconomy, that place ecological limits before market logic. [ENB Coverage]