Tips for securing C-Suite buy-in for nature commitments

Societal expectations regarding how corporations interact with and impact nature are rapidly changing. As such, corporate sustainability teams are becoming increasingly important for both risk mitigation and opportunity creation. There is an increasing need for compliance with nature-related frameworks and regulations and to respond to rising consumer demand for sustainable products and services. Within the wider sustainability agenda, many corporate leaders already recognise the need to manage climate-related risks, but when it comes to nature and biodiversity loss, sustainability teams may still struggle to get the buy-in and budget they need for mitigating impacts on nature and investing in restoration and regeneration in their operations or value chain.

If you’re a member of a sustainability team and you want to make a compelling business case for nature — and fight for the budget you need to deliver ambitious nature commitments — here are four approaches you could use:

1. Speak the same language 

Achieving sustainability goals inevitably requires organisational change — from committing to measurable targets to transforming business models, to changing skills, norms and incentive structures. In the early stages of the journey, you may find yourself going up against entrenched norms and expectations. As a professional with a background in and passion for environmental science, you may have a rich understanding of ecological issues, while your internal C-Suite stakeholders may come from a strictly corporate or business management background. It may feel like you are trying to persuade others who do not speak your language.

Firstly, effective communication is key for changing mindsets: You will need to proactively organise workshops and discussions that resonate with the goals of corporate leadership. Your focus may be on state of nature metrics, and hard-to-measure financial costs of inaction, such as supply chain collapses or reputational damage. However, your audience may not be familiar with scientific jargon or regulatory frameworks and rather focus on high-level strategy and near-term financial metrics such as revenue and cost. Moreover, you will be making your case with science-based data and ecological models, which will have assumptions, limitations and uncertainties.

Being aware of this potential difference in perspectives and language is crucial. When you are preparing a meeting to pitch a nature strategy or budget, take a moment to assess the levels of environmental expertise within your organisation. You may want to first understand how issues relating to nature and biodiversity loss are understood and prioritised by your audience. This awareness will help you frame your messages effectively and align environmental sustainability goals with your leaders’ business objectives.

2. Demonstrate climate-nature synergies 

Nature and biodiversity are relatively new issues in the corporate sustainability space. At a time when organisations are just beginning to internalize and address climate change, they are now called upon to understand terms like biodiversity net gain, nature-based solutions, the biodiversity impact of their supply chains, sustainable sourcing, natural capital, ecosystem services, state of nature metrics, and so on. 

It is not hard to see why business leaders may feel overwhelmed. However, this also presents an opportunity for corporate sustainability teams to demonstrate the interconnection between climate and biodiversity and leverage their stakeholders’ familiarity with climate action to secure buy-in for (and synergies with) similar initiatives to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. 

For example, a recent case study involving an investment company showed how addressing biodiversity loss in a degraded landscape led to additional carbon-footprint reduction benefits. Biodiversity experts can collaborate with climate teams to develop joint initiatives and key performance indicators that deliver biodiversity and climate benefits simultaneously and cost-effectively, e.g., through nature-based solutions. This approach also creates synergies across different environmental initiatives and maximises the nature and climate ROI of your sustainability initiatives. 

Furthermore, well-established disclosure standards like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), CDP, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) are collaborating closely with initiatives like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science-based Targets Network (SBTN) to include nature in their frameworks. This makes it easier for organisations to communicate their overall performance on nature-related issues and incentivises them to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together.

3. Build a compelling business case 

One of the most effective ways to motivate nature action is to build a strong business case. You will have to articulate not just the risks of inaction, but also the opportunities that come from creating positive impacts. Where possible you should estimate both avoided costs and potential returns for your organisation from investing early in nature action. 

Here are some examples of how you could counter the typical arguments against investing in nature:

• "We don’t have time for this."  

Highlight the cost of inaction and the urgency based on environmental, supply chain, legal, and reputational risks to the organisation. Stress that failing to act not only threatens supply chain and business resilience but is also existential—there is no business on a dead planet.

• "We’re focused on cost-saving."  

Emphasise that investing in nature now could achieve cost savings. For example, circularity and waste reduction benefit both nature and the business by reducing raw material inputs and making operations leaner and more cost-effective. Additional savings may arise from improved ESG ratings, which can unlock more favourable financing terms, a more resilient supply chain, and better compliance with sustainability regulations.

• "Compliance is the priority for now – just do what needs to be done."  

Clarify that reporting and disclosure should be seen as a means to drive action on nature-related risks and opportunities. Disclosures will inform ESG ratings and influence investor and consumer decisions. Publicly stating that the business is not taking action on nature will pose significant risks, while committing to action early offers the chance to position the company as a market leader and capture first-mover advantages in terms of investment opportunities and consumer markets.

4. Simplify nature-related ambitions into tangible, feasible and cost-effective steps 

Ultimately, you may be advocating for your business leaders to commit to ambitious nature positive positions and science-based targets, however, these commitments may seem complex, intangible and hard to deliver. Many business leaders will be reluctant to commit to goals and targets if they are not sure they can achieve them. 

To address this, you can use approaches such as value chain assessments with scenario planning, to identify which specific areas of the business to prioritise, and which tangible actions will get you the highest return-on-investment in terms of progressing towards nature goals and targets. For example, we conducted a value chain assessment for a large multi-national car manufacturing company, and used the data to estimate the impact mitigation benefits of different types of actions – from sustainable sourcing to waste reduction, and including their existing climate and circularity actions (Figure 1). The helped the sustainability team to communicate a clear action pathway to targets and commitments, and prioritise actions based on cost-effectiveness, making it easier to get buy-in from the C-Suite.

Categories: Financial Services, Insight, Ecosystem Services, Science-Based Targets, Biodiversity Strategy, Nature Positive, No Net Loss and Net Positive Impact