Big pharma accused of ‘free-riding on nature’ as global fund attracts just $7,000 — SkimNews
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- The Cali Fund had received $10,656 in commitments (of which $7,085 deposited) as of the start of Cop17 in Yerevan, Armenia — far below its $1bn annual target, 18 months after its February 2025 launch.
- Zero Carbon Analytics calculated the top 15 pharmaceutical companies could have collectively contributed $756m based on 2025 performance, when they generated approximately $161bn in profits and paid shareholders 175 times the suggested contribution.
- June Rubis of Macquarie University, a Cali Fund steering committee member representing Indigenous peoples and local communities, accused pharma companies of "free-riding" on nature and failing to support communities defending biodiversity on the frontlines.
- The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, via director Guilherme Cintra, criticized the fund as overlapping with existing law and relying on "inaccurate assumptions about how data is used in the discovery of medicines."
- The fund's only three contributions came from small private firms — Prozomix ($5,000), TierraViva AI ($1,000), and E-Biom ($1,085) — with no money from any major pharmaceutical company.
- GSK and Sanofi issued statements supporting biodiversity but did not commit; GSK said it would decide once it learned more about how the fund would interact with existing access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, while the fund's spokesperson called results "disappointing but not entirely surprising."
Why it matters: The Cali Fund is the UN's flagship mechanism to plug a $700bn biodiversity funding gap, with at least half earmarked for Indigenous-led conservation. The top 15 pharma companies generated $161bn in 2025 profits yet contributed nothing — handing the $756m obligation to voluntary goodwill that the fund's $7,085 balance shows isn't materializing.
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