Preserving nature takes on new urgency for companies already fighting climate change

As businesses around the world start to take stock of how their operations affect nature, they are learning that fighting the loss of biodiversity may be even more difficult than combatting climate change. 

“This is a super painful transition that we’re all part of, but it’s a necessary one,” said Eva Zabey, chief executive of Business for Nature, speaking Oct. 24 on the opening keynote panel of the Bloom 24 conference, in Cali, Colombia. The headwinds companies face, she said, include geopolitics, inflation and the intricacies of disclosures about nature called for by governments and investor groups. 

“We can’t get stuck and say it’s too complicated because we’ve never done this before,” she said.

The panel was discussing a new survey of sustainability professionals at large and midsized companies that found most have started to assess their impact on biodiversity, but only about a quarter have started to take significant action to mitigate any harm they have done. 

The survey, in the Trellis State of Biodiversity and Business report released at Bloom, found that four out of five professionals feel their companies are not doing enough to address their impact on nature. They said they face obstacles, including a lack of expertise and the competition for resources with other sustainability objectives.  

As an example, Zabey said that one large company calculates it will need 20 people to comply with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. 

Engaging with nature

Much of the discussion focused on how to encourage businesses to overcome these initial difficulties. 

“Companies can engage with nature despite the complexity,” said Thomas Lingard, global head of sustainability at Unilever. “I’m a big believer you can do something even if you don’t have 20 people to do a complex assessment. If you are a small or medium-sized company, you probably have the intuition to identify where you have a big impact and pick one or two things to start doing now.”

Geneva Claesson, a partner at Deloitte, suggested that increased attention to nature will enable companies to expand their skills and use their existing staff in new and more productive ways.

“A lot of organizations may see these regulations as a compliance burden,” she said. “I’m an eternal optimist, so I see it as such a great opportunity.”