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 COP15 Business Statement for Mandatory Assessment and Disclosure 

Business and finance call for negotiators at COP15 to make assessment & disclosure on nature mandatory 

Dear Heads of State, 

It is the final sprint to adopt a transformative Global Biodiversity Framework at the UN Biodiversity COP15, to set us on track to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Now is your opportunity to change course and leave a historic legacy that delivers an equitable, nature-positive and net-zero future.  

This will help us achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, reach net zero emissions and increase prosperity and wellbeing for more people, especially the most vulnerable. 

We - a range of businesses and financial institutions recognize we have a critical role to play in the implementation of this once-in-a-decade agreement. 

We are on a journey towards reducing negative impacts and increasing positive impacts by restoring and regenerating nature and we must accelerate our efforts. The Natural Capital Protocol, Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and many others are equipping us with the guidance, tools and methodologies to go further, faster. 

We are playing our part, taking actions such as:  

• Assessing our impacts and dependencies on nature  

• Disclosing our material nature-related information   

• Committing publicly to avoid and reduce our negative impacts, prioritizing the most material issues across our operations, value chains and portfolios 

• Transforming our business strategies and models to restore and regenerate nature and collaborate across river basins, land and seascapes 

This won’t be easy, but it must happen if we are serious about achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2050 Vision to ‘Live in Harmony with Nature’. We also know more is needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.  

We need governments globally to transform the rules of the economic game and require business to act now.  

At COP15 in Montreal, we call on you to adopt, in Target 15, mandatory requirements for large and transnational businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, by 2030.  

This must be complemented by a clear aim to reduce negative impacts and increase positive impacts to drive collective action by business and finance, supported by a proper enabling environment including financing to ensure equitable and effective implementation in all countries.  

COP15 is a unique opportunity to send a strong signal to the business and finance communities that the status quo is economically short-sighted and will destroy value over the long-term. Mandatory assessment and disclosure will create fair competition for business, increase accountability, engage investors, empower consumers, involve SMEs through supply chains, help ensure the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and ultimately accelerate the transformation of our economies.  

Currently, businesses and financial institutions don’t have the political certainty they need to change their business models. And governments don’t have the information they need to enforce these changes and track progress. Assessment and disclosure are an essential first step to generate action, but it will only have an impact if it is made mandatory.  

We stand ready, alongside many other stakeholders, to help implement a successful global agreement on nature.  

Nature is everyone’s business. 

[companies’ names]