- Official development finance (ODF) for biodiversity reached a record USD 34.2 billion in 2024.
- Most of this finance was in the form of grants from DAC members and loans from multilateral institutions.
- Private finance mobilisation for biodiversity is growing but remains modest.
Development finance for biodiversity increased substantially between 2015 and 2024, according to OECD data. Estimates suggest it more than tripled for projects with biodiversity as a principal or secondary objective (“biodiversity-related”).
Even using a more conservative "biodiversity-specific" measure, the amounts more than doubled over the same period. This measure counts activities with biodiversity as a principal objective at 100%, while those with biodiversity as a secondary objective are counted at 40%.
The difference between the totals is largely driven by an increase in activities that pursue biodiversity as a secondary objective. In 2024, activities with biodiversity as a principal objective received USD 8.7 billion in development finance, while activities with biodiversity as a secondary objective received USD 25.5 billion. This suggests that a substantial share of the growth is due to a biodiversity dimension being integrated into broader projects.
Who is financing biodiversity?
DAC members and multilateral institutions are the main providers of development finance for biodiversity. Together, they accounted for over 90% of all biodiversity development finance in 2024. Their combined share has been gradually declining over the past decade as more providers have started working on biodiversity-related topics and reporting to the OECD.
DAC members’ biodiversity-related finance increased from USD 9.5 billion in 2015 to USD 15.0 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, biodiversity-specific finance increased from an estimated USD 6.6 billion to USD 8.5 billion, mostly in the form of grants.
Multilateral institutions, and primarily multilateral development banks, have become increasingly important for financing biodiversity. Following international calls for more funding, biodiversity-related development finance rose from an estimated USD 1.4 billion in 2015 to USD 15.8 billion in 2024. Biodiversity-specific finance rose from an estimated USD 650 million to USD 8.4 billion – a thirteen-fold increase over a decade. The financial instruments used differ from those of bilateral providers, with loans representing 75% of multilateral biodiversity outflows in 2024.
Can private finance close the gap?
Despite increases in development finance for biodiversity, significant gaps remain. Private finance can play a role in closing this gap. Mobilised private finance for biodiversity-related objectives increased from USD 205 million in 2017 to USD 2.9 billion in 2024. Biodiversity-specific finance increased from an estimated USD 250 million in 2017 to USD 1.9 billion in 2024.
While this is an improvement, mobilised private finance for biodiversity remains a small share of the total mobilised for development finance. Biodiversity-related objectives made up just 3.8% of total private finance mobilised in 2024, compared to 40% for climate-related activities.
Private finance for biodiversity in 2024 was mobilised mainly through co-financing, which accounted for 69% of biodiversity-specific mobilisation, followed by guarantees at 18%.
How development finance for biodiversity and climate overlap
Given strong linkages and synergies between biodiversity and climate change, development financing for both often overlaps. On average, 85% of biodiversity-related development finance from DAC members also targets climate change objectives. Conversely, only 21% of climate-related development finance targets biodiversity. This suggests that biodiversity objectives could be better integrated into climate portfolios.
How development finance for biodiversity and gender equality overlap
Gender and biodiversity are connected due to differing labour roles, ecological knowledge, and decision-making powers between men and women. Development finance addressing both biodiversity and gender equality as a share of total development finance for biodiversity increased from 46% in 2015 to 66% in 2024.
The opposite does not hold true: only 13% of development finance with gender equality objectives also integrated biodiversity-related concerns in 2024. This implies that while providers increasingly recognise the importance of biodiversity interventions being gender-responsive, they do not yet systematically consider biodiversity when designing gender equality interventions.
