Biodiversity in Business and Finance

Many organizations are directly or indirectly dependent on biodiversity. Ecosystem services such as clean water, fertile soils, pollination, and climate regulation form the foundation of countless business activities and value chains. At the same time, biodiversity is under pressure worldwide, leading to increasing risks for business continuity, costs, and reputation.

In addition, attention from legislation and regulation, financial institutions, and investors is growing. As a result, biodiversity is developing from a societal issue into a factor that is increasingly being included in risk analyses and strategic decision-making.

We see that the combination: growing dependencies and growing expectations, is what brings biodiversity onto the agenda of more organisations

During the training we learned in-depth on both the ecological and business side of biodiversity. There were a lot of new insights and want to share some insights that we feel are most relevant for organisations:

Insight into the current state of biodiversity
The speed and scale of biodiversity loss make it clear that this is a current and systemic risk. Its potential consequences reach deep into business models and value chains, even when the impacts are not yet concrete.

Better understanding of ecosystems and dependencies
Gaining insight into how ecosystems function also clarifies how broad companies’ dependencies are. These often extend beyond a company’s own operations or the first links in the value chain.

Legislation and subsidies in development
Although the policy and regulatory framework around biodiversity is still evolving, attention is clearly increasing. Going forward we see that transparency about impacts and dependencies is expected to play a greater role.

Complex, but not unmanageable
We are aware that biodiversity might come off as more complex than, for example, climate change, but that does not mean organisations cannot act. Initial steps often lie in raising awareness, mapping risks, and linking biodiversity to existing sustainability and risk frameworks. Step by step, your organisation can build understanding and direction.

For organisations, this means that biodiversity can no longer be viewed separately from broader sustainability and strategic discussions. The topic relates to supply chain responsibility, risk management, and long-term value creation.

At the same time, it is not necessary to organize biodiversity as a separate domain. By connecting it to existing processes and ambitions, organisations can gradually build insight and determine direction without overcomplicating the often already tricky sustainability journey.

For us, biodiversity raises relevant question such as: How do we practice this topic ourselves? And how can we meaningfully integrate biodiversity into our existing services over time?

We already encounter the topic in the Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) and in Nature Assessments for the B Corp trajectories we carry out for clients. The insights from this training help us better understand the topic and incorporate it into our vision of future-proof entrepreneurship.

Biodiversity requires a different way of looking at business: system-oriented, long-term, and with attention to dependencies that often lie outside immediate view. Our expert Lusian mentioned that the training confirmed that biodiversity belongs in the conversation about business and finance, even if not all the answers are available yet.

The question, therefore, is not whether organisations should engage with biodiversity, but how and when.