Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 51
ECO NO M ICS
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RE W I L D I NG
How do we go to thousands of islands, or tens of thousands of
islands? We need these big deals.
When it comes to venture capital there has been progress in the creating of funds that are funneling money
through to really innovative companies trying to help
the world achieve net-zero targets. Do you think it’s
going to become harder to funnel money through to
firms supporting biodiversity projects?
Verdun: Even if we don’t have regulations saying no
net biodiversity loss or even we need net positive biodiversity, I hope the fear of those types of rules coming
in will spur large corporations and more agile, small
companies to be investing in biodiversity. I think getting out in front can be an incentive in itself.
Schaefer: We need regulations, but we can’t always
rely on governments because they tend to be slow. So
agile philanthropy can help kickstart processes, but
I’m a big believer in private-private partnerships or
private-public partnerships because you get the speed
and innovation.
What do you think is the best way for conservation
projects to really harness the funds available to them?
Philanthropists pledge millions, governments pledge
billions—there are potential trillions of dollars available for this work.
Verdun: I don’t know if there is a single best way. But I
am optimistic. We have a better idea now of where the
big pools of cash are in the ocean economy and who
the biggest corporate players are. The clearer and more
transparent the ocean economy becomes, the more that
accountability can lead to those companies investing
in biodiversity credits, and investing in restoration at a
much larger scale. The health of the ocean is material to
them. It is a financial risk for them. They need to invest
in it to keep doing their business.
How crucial is it that the development banks (banks
committed to investing in development to build economic resilience and sustainability around the world)
remain the linchpin of this, as a backstop essentially?
Schaefer: They are crucial. But in Ecuador, for example,
we get funding from development banks but it can be
frustratingly slow. It can take years to come but we
need to act now. We need different solutions.
economy and the environment around the world.
SuSannaH StrEEtEr has two decades of experience as an
international broadcaster for the BBC. She is also an expert in
financial markets, and hosts global conferences focusing on the
Let’s turn to grant applications. Applying for a grant
can be like a job in itself and it slows down so many of
these projects. Do you think that the grant process is
unnecessarily limiting?
Schaefer: In some cases they are very limiting, but not
all. For example, Re:wild is very flexible with how we
use the funding we get from them. But other institutions want to know the name of each employee that will
be funded and exactly what they will be doing, and so
we lose that flexibility. We need to be able to move fast.
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