Businesses are taking stock of nature and beginning to act
Business leaders around the world are starting to acknowledge the effects their companies have on the health of the ecosystems they touch.
Highlights
- Examples What businesses are doing to preserve nature
- Challenges What gets in the way of more progress
- Deep dives
- Geographical: E.U. vs. N.A.
- Company size: $1B+ revenue vs. $10M-$1B
- Impact areas: Freshwater, energy, forestry, and more
- Evaluation methodologies
The first Trellis State of Biodiversity and Business report, based on a survey of 106 sustainability professionals at large and midsize companies, found that most are in the process — formally or informally — of considering their impact on biodiversity and nature. Many are already taking action to reduce the negative consequences of their operations and restore the ecosystems they are involved with.
When nearly all of the world’s governments (with the notable exception of the United States) agreed in 2022 to reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030, they specifically called on businesses to contribute to the effort. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, mandates that businesses be held accountable for their impacts on biodiversity and for resources shifted from subsidies that are harmful to nature to projects that restore it.
Now, launched Oct. 24 alongside the 2024 gathering of the same group in Cali, Colombia (COP16), our inaugural Trellis State of Biodiversity and Business report shows that the global business community has begun to respond to that challenge. It also serves to establish a baseline from which we can follow how sustainability professionals and their companies further this work.
Among the key findings:
- One-quarter treat protecting nature and biodiversity as a high priority, compared to two-thirds that prioritize reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Half the companies based in Europe are taking significant actions, compared to only one-tenth of those based in North America.
- Four-fifths of respondents say the companies they work for are not doing enough to address nature and biodiversity.
How companies are launching nature initiatives
So far, about half of the companies we surveyed are taking at least some sort of action to address their impact on nature. One quarter have started “small-scale or pilot projects,” and most of the rest say they have begun “significant actions to address some of the impacts we’ve identified.” Just a handful claim they are addressing “most or all of the impacts we’ve identified.”
Those that aren’t taking action are split evenly between “forming a plan” and doing little or nothing at all.

Note: Since our survey was of sustainability professionals, the results should be seen as a snapshot of companies that already have some level of commitment to environmental and climate issues.