 I'm very thrilled to welcome all of you to this session which is named Building Net Zero Nature Positive Economies which is part of the 2021 Davos Agenda Week organized by the World Economic Forum. I'm your moderator for this forum. My name is Nancy Zhu. I'm an anchor woman with Phoenix TV based in Beijing. Now the first part of today's session will be centred around a panel which I'm very honoured to be joined by Mr Malik Amin Aslam, the Federal Minister of Climate Change of Pakistan. Inga Anderson, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. Marjin, who's the Chairman of Green Finance Committee, China Society for Finance and Banking. Mr Anderson Tanotto, the Director of RGE Group in Indonesia and Jennifer Morgan, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International. And together we will be discussing the elements needed to spur our economies in the world towards a decade of action which is good for everybody and the planet. Should you be asking any questions to our speakers and panelists please do share your questions with us in the chat box below. We'll be doing our best to try and answer these questions. So let us now without further delay dive into today's discussion. As we all know in 2020 the World Economic Forum's global risk report has found for the first time in 15 years that the top five global risks facing human society actually come from a single category which is the environment. So in 2021 in this report released just last week it shows global businesses and leaders now see top risks as all being environmental and now with COVID-19 they've also added pandemics to the top list and we all know that in many ways these are linked to the destruction of our nature. For example I'm going to share with you some astonishing figures. If the current rate of deforestation is not stopped our planet might only have 10% of its forest remaining by the year 2030. It's scary. We're losing the world's top soil at a rate of 100 times faster than it can be naturally replenished. Mealing we're at the brink of an impending global food security emergency. At the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres remarked making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. Now we cannot solve these problems with the 20th century framework. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it very clear to all of us these issues are not environmental issues alone. These are threats to the environment but also to our society and political stability. So according to the report nature risk rising more than half of the world's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. So ladies and gentlemen welcome again I'm very delighted to be having a truly multi stakeholder panel to discuss how we can unlock a net zero nature positive economy and what we can all do to play and to make this happen. So now I'm going to invite our first panelist of today Malik Amin Adlem of Pakistan Minister the dominant economic model to date has really ignored the value of nature capital from which we can draw critical services such as food production and climate stability. Can you share with us how is Pakistan approaching natural capital and how that approach might be different in achieving the objectives in improving rural livelihoods and meeting the Paris agreement goals and ensuring that you have a healthy food supply system. Thank you very much and thanks a lot for giving me this opportunity and I really feel that I knew the topic that you've chosen today is extremely important not only for us but also for the whole world. Pakistan was already on a nature positive as you say nature positive trajectory of growth even before COVID struck but when the COVID pandemic happened it really shook everybody up and it changed the focus of the policymakers to understand the value of nature and the value of thresholds of nature. As you rightly said that you know if you push nature it creates problems but when you push it beyond a certain thresholds it creates a really threatening problem which is as created through the COVID crisis that is an imbalance with nature the biodiversity crisis the climate change crisis all of them are are happening because we have pushed the thresholds of nature and we've seen that nature does not stay quiet it also strikes back and we cannot fight with nature we have to change the equation over here we have to change the way we treat nature and I think that has been the real philosophy behind Pakistan's development paradigm and as I said during the COVID era we realized that we need to drastically change that paradigm and give it as you say a further impetus to move in a nature positive direction. So we announced what was called the green stimulus during the COVID pandemic which focused on really nature positive and and nature-based recovery out of this situation. So we were trying to look for things which could number one protect nature and you know improve our balance with nature and number two also provide us with green jobs that could provide us an economic stimulus to get out of this situation. So we've tried focusing on what was called the 10 billion trees tsunami which was a project already happening but we provided it an impetus to start creating more jobs on the ground for people to be planting trees to be you know planting nurseries protecting forest from forest fires all of these created jobs which were nature positive but also COVID safe jobs and we created about 80,000 jobs doing that we also started the protected area initiative which was to not only expand the protected area coverage in Pakistan but also link it up with green jobs and so we started a new national parks on the ground for protecting nature and we are also expanding our national parks we had 30 national parks before COVID struck now we have 45 so we have gone off 50% during the COVID time. So you know these initiatives were nature positive but they were also pushing us to think about nature in a different way not as an adversary but as a partner if you look at economic growth into the future. Now the question that you asked about natural capital evaluation is something that has really been intriguing us in this direction of a nature positive recovery what we realized was that nature is not valued properly when we look at decisions of economics or policymaking in the government. So we fished around and what we found was an exercise which has recently happened in the UK on on natural capital evaluation. They have come up with a report called the Das Gupta Report and we use that report to propel our own natural capital evaluation exercise. We are in the initial stages of that exercise but the thinking of the government is very clear that when you start valuing nature that is when you start protecting nature and that is how you you create the you know the right equation with nature to survive and that balance is absolutely necessary right like you said you know the framework of the 20th century is not going to get us to the 21st century. We need to create a new framework for thinking of economics of how we how we think of nature not only as a commodity but also as an asset which is there which is valued which has a dollar value. So now we have started off by the natural capital valuation of our national parts which is about 15 percent of our land area because these are really you know biodeversely stored houses which are very valuable they are places which nowhere else in the world there's a place like that for instance you know the Deosai National Park in Pakistan starts at 14,000 feet now there is not another Deosai National Park in the world because you know this height is not available anywhere else in the world so the vegetation the flora and the fauna that exists over there has to have a very strong value we don't know what that value is but we have just started that exercise and we we hope you know that value will now create the basis for making decisions which are automatically automatically going to be nature positive so we don't have to push ourselves on a nature positive trajectory but the value of nature actually propels us to think of nature as an asset which has a value and if we if we push it over certain thresholds it will react so I think that that thinking is very positive so we are looking at various instruments natural capital valuation is the start we are looking at nature bonds we are you know going to be issuing our first nature bonds for some big hydro projects very soon we're also looking at a financing for biodiversity initiative which ties up the value of nature with with that reduction for countries like Pakistan so that's another innovative thing we're looking at so it's a competing of exercises but as I said the basis of that is to think about nature differently great thank you very much minister thank you I think I really agree with you that the point when you start to value nature this is at the point when you start to protect nature and not to treat nature as a commodity but really see it as an asset something that has value thank you for sharing with us your insights I'm afraid we have to move on to our next panelist because of when we have half an hour for this live session all right so our next question is for Inga Anderson the executive director of the United Nations environment program and this question we're going to start with the year 2021 we've seen kicks off with the UN decade for ecosystem and restoration and we'll see the COPs of the three real conventions on climate change biodiversity etc and given the current context of COVID-19 with the tightening of budgets how do we unlock financing as well as investment to meet this ambition of having net zero and nature positive world by the year 2030 well let me start by saying that it's very nice to come on the heels of minister Malika Slavhan because he's really set out the framework and told to us what happens in the national setting he spoke to the importance of understanding that the value of nature is more than what is intrinsic that value of the beautiful sunset and the wonderful forest etc but understanding that when we invest in nature we are investing in our own self-preservation after all nature provides us everything that we need in terms of services the pollination the mangroves that protect us from the high seas the the coastal forests that break the winds etc etc what has happened though that as an investable asset class it hasn't been clear which pension fund has been putting its money into nature it hasn't because it wasn't clear how the revenue would come out but what minister has spoken to is exactly this that when we invest in nature we are in fact securing the very future of our societies we can we can cut the proverbial forests down one year and have a great quarterly return we can fish the waters empty and have a great quarterly return for our company and then what the point is that we need to understand that investing in nature and nature's infrastructure through investing nature based solutions matters and here you're referring to these three conventions the biodiversity convention the climate change convention and the desertification convention again pakistan has done a great job on all three and the the the billion three tsunami is is an example to us all but these three conventions will be meeting this year god willing and we will be able to have the cops what we need to now do is to understand that making the promises of what we will do by 2050 is not good enough we need to see these convention be translated into real action plans action for what we do in 21 22 23 up until 2050 we need to be ambitious because otherwise we're just like the marathoner who says in january oh sorry the runner who says on january 1st that he or she is going to run a marathon by december but if we do not train and take into action on january 2nd the the real the real hard work do the hard work we are not going to get there that is what we need to see now we need to see biodiversity action not promises and we heard from minister must ask them how exactly the kind of actions they put into the into into place we need to see real commitments on on 2050 on climate change and net zero so that we can stretch and we need to see real commitments on on desertification and as I close out with my last three seconds just to say that to make all of this happen we need solidarity because this is an existential crisis and without financing and support this is not going to go anywhere and that is what we're calling for for the three cops thank you thank you very much for your remarks miss anderson and our next speaker is also coming up mr marjin from china yes can you hear me yes we can hear you now we know china has signaled a strong commitment towards net zero by the year 2060 and highlighting the raw of nature as well china will also be hosting the un cbd cop 15 later on this year so please share with us how you think the chinese financial sector can contribute to accelerating the achievements of the ecological society and what barriers do you think the chinese society still face to unlock the opportunities to materialize and i think miss anderson has raised some really good points we need not only see promises we need to see action we need solidarity as well so please mr ma share with us your insights well first of all thank you very much for inviting me to join this very important discussion as you mentioned china declared the carbon neutrality goal and they were now actually working very hard on producing a roadmap to using finance to support the carbon neutrality target of which nature based solution definitely are in very important part now let me start with a few words on green finance itself and then come back to the barriers and solutions for our nature based solutions now in terms of carbon in terms of green finance itself we have built a what i call a framework of four pillars in china one is standards which mean that we have a set of taxonomies defining what are the green activity that finance should support in the green finance framework and secondly we need to have the project owners to disclose environmental and climate benefits for the green projects so that the investors will know that the green money goes to the green project and certainly for some green projects which have environmental benefits but do not have sufficient cash flow they need incentives for example at the central bank level the pboc introduced a green relanding facility which offers a low cost funding to commercial banks and through commercial banks to support green projects and the local governments offer the inter subsidies and guarantees for green projects as well and finally the pillar is what i call the products we need many kind of green finance products to support the shortened project long term project project that require risky capital and the project that's required risk management products and now coming back to the question on how to finance nature-based solutions this is a harder part of green finance because in the past years we've seen a lot of financing going to big infrastructure projects such as renewable energy, solid waste, water treatment and so on but very little still into a biodiversity and nature-based solutions such as reforestation, sustainable farming and fishing now the problems are the following number one many of these nature-based solution related projects they lack sufficient cash flow or profitability and secondly they lack good project owners that can qualify for commercial financing and certainly they lack the professional operator or managers which will enhance their return on assets and finally there's a lack of proper financial products for example long-term financing for some of these long-term solutions so really the financial sector including the regulators and finance institutions will have to come up with solutions to address all of these bottlenecks or barriers for example we need to develop compensation mechanisms for those projects which are delivering environmental climate ecological benefits to receive compensation from other projects just give you one example if you can combine a real-state very profitable project together with a forestry project which is less profitable then this combination projects may be profitable enough for an investor and secondly we need to develop carbon credits for example letting forestry projects really to benefit from selling the carbon credit enhancing their return and certainly we need to really introduce channels through which long-term capital including pension money and insurance money can be engaged in these nature-based solutions and the finally equity investors will have to find a way to get into these projects because many of these project owners lack capital and that's why they couldn't get that financing so all these are potential areas we need to explore to make sure that the finance will be made available to nature-based solutions right thank you very much mr ma for thank you for sharing with us your insights in why you think greed financing has been an area which is not had a lot of professional support lack of profit flow lack of professional managers lack of long-term financing and thank you for suggesting the different potential ways of making this area more properly run combination of projects introducing different channels etc we're going to move on to our next panelist mr anderson tonotto of g of rge are you there mr tonotto yes i'm here hello hi hi good evening we all know indonesia is really playing a leadership role in building out the potential for nature capital markets where the farmers can be paid for provisioning for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestering what more needs to be done to take this to scale do you think and how companies like the rge can work towards the 2030 goal of net zero and nature positive economy thank you nancy nancy hello everyone it's a privilege to be here with such distinguished speakers just to introduce myself my name is anderson tonotto i'm the managing director of rge uh we're a cellulose and agricultural company uh integrated with renewable plantations based in indonesia brazil and china so there's no question that companies regardless whether they are in emerging countries or developed countries must focus on emissions reductions and work towards and net zero emissions and our goals to tie our business to positively impact nature and that's the reality that we live in now but the challenge of course is that we operate in the land-based industry and we have learned it the hard way in the last 35 years and the reality is protection and conservation forest in some emerging countries with huge populations without active management it does not stay forested so we must put value in natural capital and recognize the co-benefits of nature that provides ecosystem services biodiversity and of course protecting some of these watersheds the last five years of our journey since cop 21 in paris we've committed something called the one for one so every hectare of plantation we commit one hectare of conservation and forest and again this is trying to tie our business together with nature as capital uh in that process we've conserved about 280 000 hectares of protection and conservation forest five times the size of singapore but it was a very challenging process for us uh first we were not we were tempted to restore some of these forests but as a matter of fact protecting some of these forests and letting nature heal itself is what we've learned in the last five years it's been an incredible journey it's actually much more cost-effective and cost-efficient to let nature heal itself uh and we've seen that underground in Indonesia uh second how do we then make sure that these protection forests last for a long term the shareholders our companies we've put 100 million dollars for the first 10 years we spent about 45 million dollars the last five years protecting about 150 000 hectares of eco restoration license beyond the conservation areas it's not cheap conservation is not cheap it's dirty it's messy it's challenging um and that's the reality underground and and we must be able to roll up our sleeves and get the job done but we've tried to actually tie our business again with conservation by putting a self-tariff model so every ton of plantation wood they were producing out of a landscape we're actually putting a self-tariff of one dollar back to conservation restoration so our goal is to really make sure that we can have a self-funded model as the world continues to discuss about natural capital financing we're trying to find a feasible and pragmatic model on the ground uh last but not least actually is to really work with partners uh there's no question uh both Greenpeace and WWF play a huge role seven years ago to not just to go towards this direction it was a very important decision uh from from the business side to really push outside ourselves outside of our comfort zone the reality is private sector needs to be pushed outside of their comfort zone and we all know that growth and comfort comfort does not coexist and for us as private sector we are being pushed outside of our comfort zone to go above and beyond just for profit but also realizing the value of nature uh moving ahead our goal is how can we scale this up to make 10 production protection compacts or 100 production protection compacts across Indonesia, Brazil and globally and what we need is the right partners in the conversation we need governments with the right regulations to allow carbon credits to enhance some of these programs but these carbon credits are not for profit now our goal is whatever carbon credits we generate from the restoration license our goals to plow it back to conservation restoration again so we have a self-moving mechanism that allows and encourage more conservation restoration projects at large but the reality is in emerging countries we must have both the production and protection hand in hand and we are only talking about protection especially in emerging countries like Indonesia and Brazil uh it's very challenging and our goal is to make sure when we produce anything from the landscape we must actually draw from the production have a self-imposed tariff or taxation and invest it back to nature and conservation great thank you very much thank you very much uh Anderson for sharing with us your insights from the industry and we're now going to welcome our final speaker we only have a few minutes left for this live streaming session Miss Jennifer Morgan now you've heard from our panelists some very ambitious messages presenting here today do these make you optimistic what do you think actions are needed to ensure that in this coming decade um all we do is sustainable and equitable for everybody from all countries well thanks Nancy Ann thanks it's great to be here with such um amazing colleagues and listening and learning as we go um you know I've spent my whole life arguing that the climate crisis cannot be solved in isolation that it requires economic changes and new mindsets and urgent emission reductions so um you know and rights-based approaches so of course I'm delighted it makes me um somewhat optimistic to see that we're finally getting to a world where we no longer pollute the atmosphere and allow um um you know our climate to heal that we're finally on the way to combining those that we need emission reductions of course and nature protection I mean and that's kind of a no-brainer the question is how we do that but the same time I'm quite worried I have to admit um and that worry um comes from two interconnected topics that are being discussed today first I'm worried that while I see the exponential growth of long-term commitments I I really don't see that much immediate action that is up to the job of really making us safe and I I want to echo Ingrid Anderson here on the need for immediate action that's there I I fear that some of the announcements that are coming from governments and they sound positive on net zero for 2050 best 30 years from now and oftentimes those commitments they hide actually that there are no clear benchmarks or binding laws to achieve the targets so too often it's more of an excuse to continue a destructive practice unfortunately and I think um sometimes we see that the resistance to a systems change which we've heard about here is hiding behind that positive sounding banner of net zero and that companies such as fossil fuel majors or airlines they pretend that they're a destructive business that they continue their destructiveness business models because they're also investing in nature protection and that's just sorry to say it's just not true it's a lie we have to do both we have to reduce emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture and land use and forestry and increase the ability of the natural ecosystems to absorb excess carbon from the atmosphere there's no either or we're probably all agreed on that but I think my second worry I don't know how much agreement we have and that's where you know since the Kyoto protocol in 1997 the world has tried to make offsets work and frankly it hasn't it just there's so many problems with offsets and so we no long we don't have time either to allow fossil fuel companies to continue to emit while um and just try and plant trees or offset those emissions there's just no time for anything like that anymore and I think the initiative is on voluntary carbon markets like the one that Mark Carney is going to announce this evening it has shortcomings and principle and practice that could really jeopardize genuine climate change mitigation and with it the Paris target so instead what do we need we need the fundamental change to get a positive relationship with nature we need to do nothing less than change the global rules of the economy and voluntary commitments are just a failure on they have been a failure and I mean Anderson you mentioned you've been nudged and pushed I mean you know that the commitments that were made for 2020 they have not been met by anyone on deforestation and we have to move beyond those voluntary commitments you know many companies praise themselves on that we even thought that would be okay for a while but in the end it didn't work so if you're about nature positive approach you need to take immediate action that supports communities to protect and restore nature without offsets and you need to support not just the individual good projects but systemic changes we've heard some of those today but they're really about rules governing the global economy whether that be around government action to reduce meat consumption from high level whether it be about different ways of doing forestry we can and must actually look at our fundamental changes in trade and finance relocalization of supply chains so in the end it might optimistic I am optimistic because over the last year more and more people woke up to the need for fundamental change you're seeing that in surveys around the world change is coming and we need to make 2021 be the year of systems change thanks thank you very much miss Jennifer Morgan I'm going to quickly wrap up thank you very much for our five panelists for sharing with us your insights as Minister Aslan rightly put it nature really strikes back when we don't treat nature properly so we really need to start to value nature and that's when we start to protect nature we need to have the COP conventions be translated into action plans we also call for solidarity across borders we need to find different ways more methods to channel green finance and as we see the Covid 19 crisis has really transcended borders in many ways than one and we saw unprecedented levels of international cooperation with information sharing and healthcare equipment sharing and I think this pandemics really taught us when we work together among different nations we can act and we can channel great change thank you again our five panelists for sharing with us your wonderful insights and remarks and this now has come to the end of our live streaming session