Is there an economic case for businesses to do something about the continuing loss of biodiversity? This is the aim of a newly published book on “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Business and Enterprise”. The book “argues that there are both serious risks to business, as well as significant opportunities, related to biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.”
Edited by Joshua Bishop with a large number of contributors, the book proposes that “there is a need for all businesses to quantify and value their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, in order to avoid or mitigate risks and maximize positive opportunities.” In chapters on business impacts and dependence on biodiversity and on measuring and reporting, the book presents state-of-the-art guidance on how companies can address biodiversity. This includes sections on determining the materiality of biodiversity issues, designing biodiversity information and accounting systems, and ways to measure and monitor biodiversity performance.
There are chapters on scaling down biodiversity risk, increasing biodiversity business opportunities and exploring the linkages between business, biodiversity and the broader context of sustainable development. These chapters are filled with interesting business case studies such as BAT’s biodiversity partnership, Holcim’s biodiversity management system, HSBC’s biodiversity awareness raising programme, Rio Tinto's net positive biodiversity impact commitment, Starbuck’s sustainable sourcing guidelines, Walmart’s sustainable products strategy, and Yemen LNG’s marine biodiversity protection. More case studies are also available online in the TEEB for Business Library.
The book also highlights new initiatives and alliances such as the, the Green Development Initiative which aims to establish an area-based certified biodiversity unit, the ISEAL Alliance which is exploring the biodiversity dimensions of environmental and social certification schemes, the Malua BioBank in Malaysia, and Mission Markets which has established an e-platform for biodiversity deals.
For corporate decision-makers wanting to better understand how they might address biodiversity, this book provides an array of insights and guidance. For government policy makers and NGO activists, the book presents the ‘whys and ‘hows’ of actively engaging business in efforts to reduce the loss of biodiversity. For the general public, the book proposes that “it is the interest of all businesses to become ‘biodiversity-positive’.”
If becoming biodiversity-positive makes sense for business, perhaps the next step is to explore whether it also makes sense for investors, workers and consumers. If indeed it does, then biodiversity should increasingly become a priority issue in economic policy-making and business strategies.
