Climate change and nature degradation are widely recognised as a source of potentially material financial risks, which will increase in the long term. Tackling them requires international cooperation, such as at the Conferences of Parties (COPs) and effective domestic implementation.
Read this article to understand:
- How decisions made at the COPs impact national policy
- How that translates into investment opportunities and risks
- Our policy priorities for the upcoming UN climate and nature conferences
Unaddressed impacts from climate change and nature degradation can show up as system-wide risks that cannot always be mitigated through investment diversification.1 As such, they threaten long-term investment outcomes.
As recognised among others by the Network for Greening the Financial System – a group of central banks and supervisors – climate and nature risks are exacerbating traditional financial risks.2 And the worsening physical impacts of climate change and nature degradation are resulting in increasing insured and uninsured losses, placing growing financial pressures on individuals, businesses, and the wider economy.3
Moreover, our society, economies and financial systems are embedded within nature. It underpins human wellbeing and economic activity by providing essential resources and ecosystem services, from food and water to flood management and pollination. All sectors depend on nature, with some more directly than others, and more than half of global GDP is highly or moderately dependent on healthy ecosystems.4
There is also no credible pathway to a net-zero and climate-resilient economy without nature.5
And taking action on climate and nature can not only help protect investments and broader economic outcomes. It can also create significant opportunities.
According to BloombergNEF, US$2.3 trillion flowed into energy transition technologies, projects, and companies in 2025. BNEF estimates investment requirements to stay on a net-zero pathway will more than double to US$4.8 trillion a year until 2030, and to around $7.7 trillion from 2031 to 2035.6 On nature, the estimated $942 billion annual financing gap highlights the large unmet demand for nature-positive solutions.7
But unlocking private investment at the pace and scale needed will depend on making those investment opportunities commercially viable. This requires clear, ambitious, and long-term public-policy frameworks, underpinned by detailed national delivery plans, technology- and sector-specific pathways, supportive policy measures, and ongoing public-private collaboration.8
What do global conferences have to do with it?
Climate and nature action are facing a difficult global political and institutional context in 2026, from delays to keystone scientific assessments to growing debate over the role of multilateral development banks in supporting climate finance and development goals.9,10 Nature action is also facing tough discussions over how to close the gap in nature financing and mobilise the resources needed to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.11
That makes international cooperation ever more essential to spur and maintain ambition, strengthen accountability, mobilise public and private finance, and develop common frameworks and mechanisms that then form the basis of national policies.
Adopted at the global Conferences of Parties (COPs) on climate and nature respectively, the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework have provided the core international frameworks to drive action on climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and halting and reversing nature loss.
The focus is now firmly on implementation by national governments
In October and November 2026, at nature COP17 and climate COP31, the focus is now firmly on implementation by national governments: translating global commitments into durable national delivery plans and policy frameworks that provide long-term certainty, mobilise public and private finance, and enable action from businesses, financial institutions, and wider society.
For investors, taking part has four key benefits:
All this can have an impact on identifying and managing investment opportunities and risks. Nature COP17 is taking place from 19 to 30 October 2026, and climate COP31 from 9 to 20 November, and colleagues across Aviva will be attending both conferences to share our priorities with the negotiators (referred to as the “parties”)* and individual governments (see From ambition to implementation: Aviva’s policy priorities for COP17 and COP31). We are also looking forward to engaging with other investors, companies and project developers to discuss what effective implementation looks like in practice.
* The parties are the countries and territories that participate in the conferences, negotiate agreements and sign up to the joint commitments and frameworks.
What we are asking for from the parties at COP17 and COP31
Key asks for COP17 parties
The priority is to move beyond commitments
Ahead of COP17, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity published a progress report showing that, while nature finance is increasing, progress remains insufficient and the 2025 finance milestone was likely not achieved.12,13 The priority is therefore to move beyond commitments and accelerate implementation.
We are asking parties to use the report to clearly assess existing implementation gaps, barriers, and opportunities, and agree practical follow-up mechanisms to close them.
In particular, parties should focus on strengthening accountability and transparency for biodiversity finance commitments. We would encourage them to identify collective actions to mobilise new and additional resources and establish a credible pathway to scale finance from all sources.
Key asks for COP31 parties
The first assessment of progress against the Paris Agreement concluded in 2023, with a second global stocktake process due to officially launch at COP31.14 We encourage parties to launch it with a focus on assessing progress against countries’ mitigation and adaptation commitments, identifying delivery barriers, and agreeing practical actions to address them.
We would also welcome clearer delivery pathways and accountability mechanisms for international climate finance commitments, which would help increase confidence that they will be met and help scale up the complementary role of private finance.
We are hoping to see progress in establishing robust rules that will continue building confidence in carbon and nature markets with high-integrity governance and transparency arrangements, including high-integrity nature-based removals that support both climate and nature outcomes.
What we are asking for from national governments
We encourage governments to use the findings from ongoing international review processes to strengthen their national plans, improve alignment between nature, climate, and adaptation actions, and support their practical delivery.
Climate mitigation
This will provide governments with the opportunity to translate their climate commitments into clear sectoral pathways and long-term policy frameworks that mobilise private investment, accelerate deployment across key sectors, and support effective collaboration between government, business, and finance on the delivery of these commitments.
For example, in the UK, high-level climate commitments are increasingly being translated into more granular policy frameworks in sectors like clean energy, transport and heating, which aim to provide clearer investment signals.
This appears to be bearing fruit in investment terms. According to the UK government, over £100 billion of private investment was secured for clean energy projects between July 2024 and June 2026, including offshore wind, nuclear, batteries, and networks.15,16
Climate adaptation
From intense heatwaves in Europe to the tragic flood in Nepal this summer, we are already seeing the impacts of climate change and nature degradation. On top of mitigating their causes as much as possible, countries need to adapt to these unavoidable effects. Governments should establish ambitious national adaptation plans with clear, measurable objectives, robust accountability mechanisms, and credible financing plans, while integrating adaptation and resilience across wider sectoral policy.
As an illustration, the upcoming development of the UK’s fourth National Adaptation Programme in 2028 is an opportunity to strengthen the country’s policy framework – and its overall preparedness to physical climate risks. We are encouraging the government to set clearer objectives and targets to adapt to a two-degree level of global warming, underpinned by delivery plans, funding pathways and an evaluation framework to track progress.
Nature
Our final recommendation for governments is to translate nature commitments into domestic policy frameworks that help make nature projects generate tangible and predictable sources of revenue. Where possible, the frameworks should also look to incorporate high-integrity international carbon credits into domestic schemes, to support both climate and nature outcomes (see Natural capital comes of age: Part one - From environmental value to investment opportunity).
For instance, while the UK has a strong overarching framework for nature protection and restoration, delivery and investment gaps remain. Further policy action is needed to help mobilise private finance, such as improving carbon credit and nature markets, both regulatory and voluntary, and running targeted blended-finance schemes to crowd in private capital.17
Protecting long-term outcomes
Addressing systemic and interconnected risks requires coordinated action
We believe it is in the best interests of our customers, clients, and shareholders to play our part in supporting collaborative action to reduce emissions, build resilience to a changing climate, and protect and restore nature. This includes through engagement with national and international policymakers, multilateral processes, businesses, and other financial institutions, recognising that addressing systemic and interconnected risks requires coordinated action.
As part of this, both COP17 and COP31 have an important role to play in maintaining ambition, strengthening accountability and collaboration, identifying implementation barriers, and supporting the development of the policy, market, and institutional conditions needed for delivery on the ground. We hope to see other investors engage meaningfully with the COP process, to encourage ambition and action.
After the conferences end, we will also be reflecting on our key takeaways. We look forward to sharing these in the coming months.
