Catalyzing transformative change for climate and biodiversity finance within COP policy discourses

Recent outcomes of the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC and the UN CBD have emphasized the need for transformative change to meet global climate and biodiversity targets. Yet discourses on climate and biodiversity finance remain dominated by efforts to close “funding gaps,” with comparatively little attention paid to the systemic drivers of climate change, biodiversity loss, and social injustices. Here we analyze all UNFCCC COP decision reports between 1995 and 2025, encompassing approximately 1.1 million words of text across 30 reports, and show that finance language consistently focuses on funding mobilization over systemic reforms. We then outline a roadmap for how transformative change can be operationalized for climate and biodiversity finance policy in practice. Specifically, we explore the role of subsidy reforms, financial regulations, policy coherence, debt justice, and equitable access to finance. Together, these interventions can provide a foundation for advancing equitable, transformative change within climate and biodiversity finance policy.