Why you should leverage nature to meet your climate targets

Nature-based solutions are amongst the most cost-effective approaches for tackling climate challenges while also bringing the added benefit of addressing biodiversity loss. Given that the overarching goal of all global climate and biodiversity commitments is the same — a healthy and resilient planet, where nature and people thrive together — it makes perfect sense for businesses to tackle the twin environmental crises together, through a Nature Positive approach. 

Businesses need nature—yet nature is reaching its limits 

While more than half the world’s GDP is highly dependent on nature, virtually all businesses depend on nature in some way. The production of all goods and services ultimately depends on raw materials and resources extracted from nature through human activities like agriculture and mining. At the same time, communities and societies around the world depend on healthy and resilient natural environments for ecosystem services like pollination, nutrient cycling, erosion control, flood regulation, and carbon capture. 

However, human activities are pushing nature to the brink, such that we are operating far beyond the safe planetary boundaries for climate and biodiversity. Global populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have declined by almost 70%, on average, since 1970, and as many as one million plants and animals are threatened with extinction.  

The biggest drivers of these declines are pressures linked to corporate value chains, like land-use change, pollution and climate change. These pressures also interact and exacerbate each other. For example, extreme weather events and changing seasonal patterns linked to climate change — like floods, fires and droughts — are adding to the loss of natural habitats and forcing species to move into higher elevations and latitudes, where they might be ill-equipped to survive.  

The resulting loss of biodiversity also poses material risks to business. For example, droughts and the loss of pollinator species could lead to crop failures and the loss of productivity; these would in turn disrupt supply chains and increase the overall cost of operations. Biodiversity loss could also increase the possibility of unexpected business risks, such as those linked to the outbreaks of infectious diseases. 

Tackling nature risks can also open opportunities for lasting change 

Many companies are understandably overwhelmed by the scale and scope of nature risks. It has taken tremendous effort for companies to come to grips with corporate targets for net zero greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable development. It’s not surprising therefore that some companies feel they should focus on climate first, and come back to biodiversity later. 

However, taking this approach would mean forgoing opportunities to tackle climate and biodiversity together with holistic and integrated solutions. It’s increasingly clear that the world cannot meet its climate goals without also addressing biodiversity loss, so from a risk mitigation perspective, “leaving biodiversity till later” translates into leaving a job half-done — and potentially into paying a higher price to fix the damage later. 

At the same time, governments are putting in place new laws and regulations to mandate the inclusion of nature in companies’ climate transition plans. In the European Union, for example, large companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will have to disclose according to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which cover the full range of sustainability issues, including climate and biodiversity. 

Similarly, the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) is working closely with financial institutions, companies and policymakers to develop disclosure-specific materials that will inform global standards such as those issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The overall ambition is to make the integration of nature and climate transition plans a mainstream objective and, as it were, more than 600 organisations across diverse sectors have been engaged with TPT in this global effort.

It is increasingly the case, therefore, that some companies may face reputational or legal risks if they're perceived by customers or shareholders to be failing to live up to their societal responsibilities, or failing to accurately identify and address nature-related risks that are material for their business.  

How can you adopt a Nature Positive approach? 

Given these emerging trends, companies that take the initiative to integrate their nature and climate commitments stand to gain a long-term competitive advantage. However, integrating nature into your business strategy is not about creating a separate working group, but more about complementing your existing efforts with a broader, Nature Positive approach. 

Here are four key steps that can help you achieve this: 

• Integrating objectives for people, climate and nature, in recognition of the links and dependencies between them; 

• Agreeing on a holistic definition of nature, one that is concerned with the health and resilience of entire ecosystems, and not just parts of them; 

• Applying the mitigation hierarchy — avoid, reduce, replace, compensate — to both climate and biodiversity; and 

• Working towards an overall net gain in biodiversity, for example, through nature restoration or nature-based climate solutions in priority locations. 

From a strategic perspective, a Nature Positive future is one that requires transformations in the way companies approach risk assessment and business resilience. It’s a future in which companies recognise that business longevity and opportunities depend on the long-term health and resilience of ecosystems.  

On an operational level, there are a range of actions that companies can already consider: 

• “Do less bad”: Avoid and reduce negative impacts through sustainable sourcing, i.e., by substituting high-impact commodities linked to emissions, deforestation or pollution; or by improving circularity and efficiency in production. 

• “Do more good”: Invest in biodiversity restoration or regenerative practices to counterbalance unavoidable damage or compensate for historical environmental damage. 

• “Collaborate”: Work with stakeholders across the value chain to tackle system-wide challenges and deliver societal benefits across an entire landscape or jurisdiction. 

How we can help 

The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC) is working closely with the Nature Positive Initiative, a global coalition of 27 organisations from diverse sectors, to establish scientifically credible, practical, and standardised metrics for tracking and measuring progress towards a Nature Positive outcome, defined as “having more nature by 2030 than in 2020”, a key condition for halting biodiversity loss and limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

This means that we are intimately familiar with the tools, methodologies, and frameworks for helping companies integrate their climate and sustainability goals with those for nature and biodiversity. We have deep and extensive expertise in developing bespoke solutions for efficiently and rigorously assessing biodiversity impact, and helping our clients prioritise sites and pressures, and setting science-based targets.

Most of all, we are deeply aware of the corporate need for pragmatic advice, and have helped clients from a wide range of sectors strike a balance between ambitious targets and feasible action. We can help you with all stages of your science-based journey, and we look forward to working with you to build a Nature Positive future. 

Categories: Insight, Ecosystem Services, Science-Based Targets, Biodiversity Strategy, Nature Positive, Biodiversity Risk and Opportunity