Biodiversity – a business imperative?

Watch the recording above to revisit our lively discussion with biodiversity experts from the financial, and business sectors and leading academics from corporate sustainability and climate finance to hear insights about what needs to happen to restore and preserve biodiversity, and how. 

2022 marked a historic year for biodiversity: agreed at COP15, the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework commits to putting 30 per cent of sea and land under protection by 2030. The agreement comes at a time of serious decline of nature as a result of human activity - we are experiencing a devastating 69% drop in wildlife populations since 1970 . The signal is clear: we must act now to preserve biodiversity, and it’s everyone’s business.

Biodiversity is a business imperative and companies are beginning to step up to the mark. But the question remains: what role can businesses play in protecting biodiversity, and how? And how can financial institutions play an enabling role in helping businesses take a nature-positive approach and scale-up action?

To address these questions, this webinar will unpack the findings of two recently launched reports by leading academics in Imperial College Business School: The evolution of corporate behaviour to tackle biodiversity challenges, authored by the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society; and Corporate action on biodiversity: an exploration of drivers, authored by the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment. The report indicates most corporations will not act on their own on biodiversity, and certainly not at the scale required. Policymakers will have to address the market failure and public goods nature of biodiversity through stronger regulation or incentives driving corporate action. Government incentives should seek to encourage further action, but also identify the types of biodiversity and related outcomes that sit outside this “sweet spot” and therefore might require further incentives.

Produced in collaboration with HSBC, The evolution of corporate behaviour to tackle biodiversity challenges provides a data-driven and global understanding of what 6,000 companies have been doing to protect and restore biodiversity. The findings provide timely insights into the initiatives businesses can consider to play a more active role in the biodiversity agenda. While Corporate action on biodiversity: an exploration of drivers, commissioned by Impax Asset Management, provides five in-depth case studies of corporate action on biodiversity and sets out what drives companies to voluntarily adopt biodiversity actions, and to what extent actions can be scaled up, and how.

Confirmed speakers

Paola Agostini, Lead Natural Resources Management, World Bank's Europe and Central Asia Region,

N L N Swaroop, Global Trade and Receivables Finance, HSBC

Livio Scalvini, Executive Director, Leonardo Centre on Business for Society, Imperial College London

Dr Pernille Holtedahl, Research Fellow, Centre for Climate Finance & Investment, Imperial College London

13:00     Webinar start - Introduction by Maurizio Zollo (5 min)

13:05     Leonardo Centre on Business for Society presents: The evolution of corporate behaviour to tackle biodiversity challenges.

13:15     Centre for Climate Finance & Investment presents: Corporate action on biodiversity: an exploration of drivers.

13:25     Panel discussion with Paola Agostini, World Bank & N L N Swaroop, HSBC

13:55     Q&A

14:05     Wrap up

14:15     Webinar end