Dear Mr. Tan Xuxiang, Vice Mayor of Beijing,
 
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
A very good morning!
 
On behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China, it gives me great pleasure to be able to join you today at the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center’s Green Development Forum 2024.
 
Allow me to begin by extending my congratulations and deep appreciation to the organizers for convening this very important Forum.
 
We meet at a pivotal moment in history.
 
The world faces unprecedented challenges—climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation— threaten not only our environment but the very foundation of our economies and societies.
 
Failure to act now could expose an additional 350 million people to drought and push up to 132 million people into extreme poverty by 2030. [1]
 
These deeply interconnected crises pose significant threats not only to the environment but also to global development and economic stability.
 
The World Economic Forum's 2023 Global Risks Report ranks climate action failure, biodiversity loss, and natural resource crises among the top global risks.
 
Addressing these challenges requires an integrated approach that combines environmental stewardship with inclusive and resilient socio-economic development.
 
Protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems are central to enhancing resilience against environmental changes and mitigating climate impacts.
 
At our current trajectory, ecosystem degradation can potentially affect the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people worldwide[2].
 
Amid this global landscape of profound challenges, there are clear, evidence-based and well-established pathways.
 
For today, allow me to focus on two dimensions.
 
The first is ensuring that we are able to effectively harness and channel the required finance as critical levers for green development.
 
UNDP is actively working globally to accelerate financing for the SDGs and global climate agendas by aligning both public and private expenditures with sustainable development objectives. Public finance alone is insufficient to achieve the global targets.
 
Through initiatives such as the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative, we are currently assisting 41 countries in unlocking US$1 billion in public and private finance that will directly benefits nature conversation and biodiversity.
 
A key lesson has been that to ensure the success of the required global green transition, effective and inclusive engagement of the private sector is critical.
 
Better quality information on nature-related risks and opportunities are critical to support businesses integrate these dimensions into their strategic planning, risk management, and asset allocation decisions.
 
To turn the tide, we need businesses to opt for nature-based solutions rather than practices that lead to environmental destruction and over-exploitation of natural resources.
 
Secondly, is the importance of policy coherence and comprehensiveness to ensure that we are able to keep the Paris Agreement commitments viable rather than a selective set of actions.   
 
UNDP’s Climate Promise 2025 initiative that we are currently undertaking in 120 counties are supporting Governments to align global climate and biodiversity targets with action on the ground to scale up ambition and implementation through the development of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).