As members of the Global Biodiversity Alliance advance their agenda, green taxonomy is emerging as one of the key smart financing techniques the group hopes to apply in its efforts to protect 30 per cent of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030.
Green taxonomy refers to a classification system that defines which economic activities and assets are considered environmentally sustainable. It is designed to help investors and companies identify and fund projects that contribute to long-term sustainability goals.
On the final day of the Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit, experts exchanged ideas on how nature could be financed while enabling sustainable businesses through the application of green taxonomies and a supporting biodiversity framework.
Panellists included General Coordinator of the RedLAC Executive Secretariat, Daniella Celarie; the Global Green Growth Institute’s (GGGI) Caribbean representative, Daniel Muñoz-Smith; and World Bank environmentalist, Natalia Magradze, among others.
Magradze highlighted that small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas face several complex challenges. She pointed out that despite strong global demand for indigenous products such as textiles, many indigenous communities struggle to access finance. This is often due to a lack of legal registration, limited transport options, and the fact that they do not meet the criteria for government support programmes.
“These are structural challenges,” she said, “but they are solvable if we design support systems that can recognize the context and leading realities. That’s why at the World bank we are investing in approaches that are localized such as blended finance that lower the risk of banks to lend to small and rural enterprise. Risk is a big issue for the private sector and we know for the banks they don’t like uncertainty they like clear messages. That’s why we come in and with a risk kit we provide some guarantees to them. We help them to assess that kind of portfolio and provide lending.”
Magradze also noted that the World Bank lobbies governments to formally recognise indigenous peoples and their land rights, particularly as they safeguard an estimated 25 per cent of the Earth’s land—home to 80 per cent of global biodiversity. Despite this vital role, she said, indigenous communities receive just 1 per cent of climate financing.
Adding to the discussion, Muñoz-Smith outlined practical steps governments can take to boost access to green financing in the tourism and hospitality sector. He emphasised that strategic policy measures and targeted instruments could help unlock sustainable growth.
He said that, “Government can facilitate access to green financing in the tourism sector by implementing supportive policies in creating targeted financial instruments that commands low interest loans and dedicated funding platforms and programs for sustainable tourism projects. They can also provide technical assistance in capacity building to support tourism operations particularly small operators that don’t have that knowledge and capacity to design bankable environmentally sustainable projects.”
He further suggested that administrations develop standard certification schemes, as well as measurable metrics and indicators, to help projects qualify for green finance. This includes the creation of sustainable green taxonomies specific to the tourism sector, with clear criteria for projects focused on eco-tourism. Additional mechanisms such as tax breaks, subsidies, and public-private partnerships were also highlighted as tools to incentivise sustainable investment.
Celarie, for her part, stressed the importance of clarity and direction for the private sector. She explained that one of the major obstacles to advancing biodiversity conservation is the absence of actionable and transparent frameworks that businesses and investors can follow.
She said that is where green taxonomies play a crucial role—not only as technical classification systems, but also as strategic tools to guide investment decisions and align them with sustainability benchmarks and global biodiversity targets.
“They also have the potential to unlock financing, drive innovation and accelerate action especially when tailored local context and biodiversity priorities,” she said.
