Most countries failed to meet the 2025 deadline to identify subsidies that could harm biodiversity, with 84% of nations still lacking a full assessment
Executive summary: According to Carbon Brief, 84% of nations missed the 2025 deadline to identify all of their subsidies that could be harmful to biodiversity. Identifying nature‑harming subsidies is a prerequisite for reforming them; the widespread failure delays policy action needed to protect ecosystems and meet international biodiversity targets.
Who is involved: National governments worldwide, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and international bodies monitoring subsidy reform are the key actors.
Likely next: Countries are expected to submit updated subsidy inventories in upcoming reporting cycles, and international reviewers may increase scrutiny of national biodiversity strategies.
An analysis by Carbon Brief shows that 84% of countries did not complete the 2025 target to catalog all subsidies that may be damaging to biodiversity. The shortfall highlights a gap between international commitments made under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and national reporting capabilities. Without accurate identification, efforts to redirect or eliminate harmful subsidies remain hampered, potentially slowing progress on global biodiversity goals.
Timeline
- — Analysis: 84% of nations miss deadline to identify ‘nature-harming’ subsidies by 2025 (Carbon Brief)
Analysis — what this means
Sectors affected
- agriculture subsidies
- fisheries subsidies
- fossil fuel subsidies
Regulatory implications
- Countries must submit national reports on harmful subsidies under the Convention on Biological Diversity by the 2025 deadline; missing the deadline triggers compliance review processes under the CBD’s reporting mechanism.
Sources
- Analysis: 84% of nations miss deadline to identify ‘nature-harming’ subsidies by 2025 — Carbon Brief
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