The Business Case for Nature
Nature underpins our collective survival and well-being. It provides human development and equality, economic value and security, and increases our resilience to climate change. Nature’s critical role is being increasingly recognized within the business and finance community in decision-making, from operations to value chains and investments.
Yet nature is in crisis. Right now. Our economic activities are operating outside the safe zones of six out of nine planetary boundaries which keep Earth habitable. There is no healthy business on an unhealthy planet. Business must take a lead and become part of the solution.
From risks to opportunities
Every sector of the economy, and every business whatever its size or location, depends on nature and its services.
Up to $577 billion in annual global crop production is at risk from pollinator loss. A collapse in ecoservices such as wild pollination, provision of food from marine fisheries and timber from native forests, could result in a global GDP decline of $2.7 trillion in 2030.
Research shows that only 5% of Fortune Global 500 companies currently have targets to tackle biodiversity loss, compared to 83% for addressing climate change. This is despite the fact nature is an ally that helps prevent climate breakdown and makes us more resilient to a warming planet. Over the past decades, our planet's oceans, flora, fauna and soils have absorbed more than 50% of human-induced carbon emissions. And natural climate solutions can provide up to one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed by 2030 to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
An increasing number of companies understand that by taking action on nature now, they can transform nature-related risks – physical, reputational or regulatory – into commercial opportunities. Shifting to nature-positive models could create annual business opportunities worth $10 trillion by 2030. Given its wide-ranging impacts on nature, but also through its potential for investment, collaboration and innovation, business must drive the urgent shift to a nature-positive, net zero and equitable economy. On average, nature-positive actions could also provide a combined value opportunity of nearly $700 billion annually through reduced operating costs for businesses.
Taking action
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreed in December 2022 charts a new course for our society’s relationship with nature. It sets out the range and scale of actions needed for the world to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, i.e. nature positive – and elevates the role of business in several key targets, most crucially Target 15 (assessment and disclosure) and Target 18 (environmentally harmful subsidies).
With the GBF setting the direction for global business action, companies can use a growing set of guidance to start on their nature-positive journey or think about how they can accelerate action by setting a credible nature strategy.
What can your company do to help reverse the loss of nature?
Essential reads:
WWF’s Living Planet Report
WEF’s The Future Of Nature
And Business
WBCSD’s Summary of Global Biodiversity Outlook 5
WEF’s Nature Risk Rising Report
The CBD’s Global Biodiversity Outlook 5
Exploring biodiversity risks for the Dutch financial sector
The Nature Conservancy’s Financing Nature
IPBES’s Global Assessment Report
The World Bank’s The Economic Case for Nature
Get Nature Positive Handbook
Defining Nature vs. Biodiversity
Nature is the natural world: all the natural capital, processes and natural phenomena that exist, such as freshwater, air, the weather, oceans, forests, minerals, soil, organisms and mountains. It also includes ecosystem services such as water filtration, pollination, climate regulation and many others.
Nature can be understood through a construct of four realms upon which all life on earth depends: Freshwater, Land, Ocean and Atmosphere (TNFD).
Biodiversity is the variability within species, between species and of ecosystems. In other words, biodiversity is the diversity of all living things. More biodiversity is essential to a healthy, stable and resilient planet.