The territories of the world’s 370 million Indigenous peoples cover 24% of land worldwide and contain 80% of the world’s biodiversity. The Indigenous population of our planet are truly the gatekeepers of our knowledge and understanding of those ecosystems and life cycles upon which we all rely. In recent years we have seen a change in the portrayal of and discourse surrounding Indigenous people. As a global society we are beginning to move away from the victimization and stereotypes that have historically defined how Indigenous people have been viewed and the narrative is changing to reflect the resilience, power, and strength of these communities as well as their transformation into critical agents of environmental conservation.

2022 was a busy year for the climate movement with peaks and troughs throughout. We saw economic volatility and war in Europe change our reliance on fossil fuels. We saw successful and unsuccessful summits, talks and conferences, bringing us 'loss and damage finance', fossil fuel lobbyists and commitments to protect biodiversity. We saw seriously questionable behaviour by governments and big business as greenwashing spreads and green commitments fall by the wayside. Importantly, we also experienced moments of sheer joy through positive developments in areas ranging from technology to rewilding, to seeing a gradual shift in public awareness of the climate crisis. As the festive season drew to a close and we stepped into a new year once again full of hope for what could be achieved it is important that we take a moment to look back and remind ourselves of those moments which have shaped sustainable finance moving into 2023.