The 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) has now finally reached conclusion with Parties adopting all remaining decisions during last week’s session in Rome, Italy. USCIB Director for Environment and Sustainable Development Agnes Vinblad was on the ground in Rome, representing members at this second resumed session—the previous session in Cali, Colombia in October 2024 did not conclude as negotiators could not reach agreement on several key issues.

USCIB had also actively participated at COP16 in Cali last year, engaging on key technical policy items such as the climate change and biodiversity nexus, resource mobilization and the financial mechanism, key indicators of the monitoring framework of the global biodiversity framework, digital sequence information (DSI), and the establishment of the Cali Fund.

“Last week’s session in Rome yielded agreement on a comprehensive strategy for resource mobilization and permanent arrangements for the financial mechanism,” said Vinblad. “The newly adopted resource mobilization strategy contains significant references to private finance flows, and the role of private sector. While the US is not a Party to the CBD, US companies operating trans-jurisdictionally continue to be impacted by CBD decisions.”

USCIB holds official observer status to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD), representing US business in the CBD process and bringing delegations of USCIB members to key negotiation sessions under the Convention.