Pharma Accused of Free-Riding on Nature as Global Fund Attracts Just $7,000

Fund opens with little money

The fund is among the issues set for discussion at the UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan this week. It forms part of broader efforts to close a $700bn shortfall in funding for nature conservation.

Potential contributions from industry

A Zero Carbon Analytics study estimated that the 15 largest pharmaceutical companies could have contributed $756m based on their performance last year, if they followed the fund’s guidelines. Those guidelines suggest voluntary payments of 1% of profits or 0.1% of revenue.

June Rubis of Macquarie University, an Indigenous peoples and local communities representative from Asia on the fund’s steering committee, said the requested share was small relative to company profits. Victoria Kalyvas, who wrote the analysis, said the industry and patients could be harmed by nature’s destruction.

Dispute over the fund’s design

Pharmaceutical companies have objected that a blanket contribution does not reflect whether a medicine was developed using digital sequence information, or DSI. Advances in biotechnology have made large volumes of genetic information available in public databases, complicating efforts to ensure companies pay for their use of nature.

Companies also argue that the fund overlaps with existing laws. A spokesperson said contributions would likely stay modest while operational systems were completed and the fund became better known, adding that Cop17 discussions could help companies decide whether to commit.

Calls for stronger commitments

Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, said it was too optimistic to expect voluntary contributions and argued companies should be required to pay. He said spending on meetings about the fund had exceeded the money in its coffers.

Sanofi said biodiversity and healthy ecosystems were important to human health and the resilience of healthcare systems. The company supports the fund’s intent, but said it would decide on voluntary contributions once it had more information about how the fund would work alongside other national and multilateral mechanisms.