Every business depends on biodiversity, and every business impacts biodiversity. The growth of the global economy has been at the cost of immense biodiversity loss, which now poses a critical and pervasive systemic risk to the economy, financial stability and human wellbeing. This is a central finding of a report published by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Even companies that might seem far-removed from nature or that do not see themselves as nature-based rely, directly or indirectly, on material inputs, regulation of environmental conditions (such as flood mitigation and water supply) and non-material contributions such as tourism, recreation, education, and spiritual, aesthetic and cultural values. But businesses often bear little or no financial cost for their negative impacts and many cannot currently generate revenue from positive impacts on biodiversity.

Approved by representatives of the more than 150 member governments of IPBES, during the 12th session of the IPBES Plenary, the IPBES Methodological Assessment Report on the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People (known as the Business and Biodiversity Report), finds that businesses are central to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, but that many often lack information to address their impacts and dependencies, as well as the risks and opportunities relating to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.