Subsidies against Nature: A multidimensional framework for biodiversity-aligned national budgets

Governments provide more than USD 800 billion annually in environmentally harmful subsidies at the global level despite international commitments. This paper introduces a novel and replicable framework for identifying biodiversity-harmful subsidies within national budgets. Our multidimensional approach is based on the five drivers of biodiversity loss: land use change, resource exploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. Our framework evaluates subsidies across seven economic sectorstransport, housing, industry, agriculture, livestock, power generation, and digital deployment-based on their expected biodiversity impact (harmful, positive, mixed, neutral, or unclassifiable). We apply this framework to the French national budget and find that, in 2022, €27.14 billion were allocated to subsidize harmful activities. Pollution is the most financially supported driver of biodiversity loss. Our analysis also reveals significant trade-offs, with 25% of climate-positive subsidies exacerbating land use pressures. The study calls for a sector-specific approach to subsidy reform. By codeveloping this framework with biodiversity experts and public authorities, we provide a decision-support tool to align public investments with pathways towards sustainability.