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.

 
 
 
 
 

Business Action Narrative – Why and how businesses should act now

Our Business Action Narrative provides business and business organizations with consistent messaging and visuals to effectively communicate about business action on nature. This could help if: 

  • You are working within a company to develop a nature strategy or plan and are making the case to internal and external stakeholders 

  • You are a not-for-profit that works directly with businesses, encouraging them to be more ambitious on nature  

  • You are an industry association and are trying to convince your members to address nature loss  

  • You are speaking publicly at a conference and are looking for some compelling content on the business case for nature 

This resource has been produced by Business for Nature in collaboration with many partners.  

Take action

Download the short deck for an overview of how businesses interface with nature and what they should do to get started on their journey.

Download the long deck for a comprehensive guide through each step of the High-Level Business Actions on Nature (ACT-D) and what businesses can do to address nature loss.

Explore Sector Action slides for a deep-dive into the guidance for 14 sectors, developed by Business for Nature in partnership with the World Economic Forum, WBCSD and many partners.

For both the short and long decks, there are multiple ‘options’ for slides to choose from depending on the audience, purpose of the presentation and time available. Please select the slides you wish to use, remove the “Visual Version” or “Text Version” on the slides after making your choice, and let us know how useful those slides have been to you, by dropping us a note at contact@businessfornature.org.

 

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?