Eighty-four percent of nations missed a 2025 deadline to identify subsidies that harm biodiversity, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. The requirement stemmed from the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022 at the UN's Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity.
The framework obligated signatory countries to identify and report all subsidies linked to activities that damage nature—including agricultural supports, fossil fuel subsidies, and fishing incentives—by the end of 2024. Only 16 percent of nations completed the assessment within the target window.
The delay matters because subsidy identification functions as the first step toward elimination. Without cataloging where governments spend money in ways that degrade ecosystems, countries cannot commit to concrete phase-out timelines. The Kunming-Montreal agreement set a subsequent deadline of 2035 for countries to eliminate or reform all identified nature-harming subsidies, but that target now faces pressure from the widespread failure to meet the initial 2025 benchmark.
Global biodiversity loss accelerates. Agriculture drives habitat destruction across vast areas, while fossil fuel subsidies—totaling roughly $7 trillion annually when accounting for unpriced environmental costs, according to the International Monetary Fund—fuel climate change that disrupts ecosystems worldwide. Fishing subsidies, estimated at $35 billion per year, fuel overharvesting that collapses marine populations.
The gap between commitment and compliance reflects implementation challenges. Many nations lack capacity for comprehensive subsidy audits. Others face domestic political resistance from agricultural and energy sectors. Wealthier countries possess more resources to conduct detailed analyses, yet many still did not complete the work.
The failure intensifies pressure on governments ahead of the next CBD conference. Without rapid action to identify subsidies, the 2035 elimination deadline becomes increasingly unrealistic. Experts view subsidy