Abstract
AbstractThe World Economic Forum has identified biodiversity loss as an increasingly significant and impactful risk facing business. However, businesses themselves can negatively impact on biodiversity. Recognizing this, a number of companies have developed their own biodiversity commitments, including those to achieve a no net loss (NNL) or net positive impact (NPI) on biodiversity by balancing or outweighing any negative impacts through mitigation activities. We reviewed corporate‐level NNL and NPI commitments over the last two decades to establish the extent of their adoption, retraction, and scientific foundation. Between 2001 and 2016, 66 companies had made NNL/NPI environmental commitments. Thirty three of these 66 companies made specific biodiversity commitments. The numbers of companies making commitments increased in that period. However, some commitments were retracted, or their status became unclear, leaving only 18 companies with active NNL/NPI biodiversity commitments in 2016. Added to this, many of the commitments are lacking science‐based criteria that would allow more transparent and systematic assessment of corporate activities. Thus, although commitments are being made, they may not be delivering as intended. To secure real biodiversity gains, we recommend advancing methods to assess biodiversity risks to businesses, and using science‐based criteria to deepen corporate commitments and actions. Concerted effort from all sectors is needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and the “biodiversity policy super‐year” of 2020 is the perfect moment for business to deliver through well‐framed and implemented commitments to biodiversity NPI.
Highlights
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, from genes, to species, to ecosystems (Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD], 2017a)
Businesses are critical actors in supporting efforts to halt biodiversity loss because they contribute to significant biodiversity impacts (Addison, Bull, & Milner‐Gulland, 2018; Maxwell, Fuller, Brooks, & Watson, 2016) but because many businesses are inextricably linked with and dependent on biodiversity (Dempsey, 2016; TEEB, 2010)
We assessed corporate‐level environmental and biodiversity no net loss (NNL) and net positive impact (NPI) commitments made or retracted by companies between 2012 and 2016 to complement and update the assessment undertaken by Rainey et al (2015), which covered the period between 2001 and 2011
Summary
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, from genes, to species, to ecosystems (Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD], 2017a). Biodiversity loss poses significant operational, regulatory, financial, and reputational risks to businesses, which are inextricably linked with other social, geopolitical, and environmental risks (Dempsey, 2016; WEF, 2010). To strengthen international efforts and accelerate action to combat biodiversity loss, international environmental agreements have been established, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 2011; European Commission, 2017) along with broader societal goals, like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, that embed biodiversity conservation in multiple areas of sustainable social and economic development (UN, undated). Businesses are critical actors in supporting efforts to halt biodiversity loss because they contribute to significant biodiversity impacts (Addison, Bull, & Milner‐Gulland, 2018; Maxwell, Fuller, Brooks, & Watson, 2016) but because many businesses are inextricably linked with and dependent on biodiversity (Dempsey, 2016; TEEB, 2010). Some businesses have begun to set their own biodiversity commitments at both the operational level and corporate level, such as commitments to achieve a net positive impact (NPI) or no net loss (NNL; Rainey et al, 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
