NATURAL CAPITAL PARTNERS

Businesses are increasingly becoming aware that monitoring and disclosing their climate impact and carbon emissions is no longer enough. Making Bureau Veritas your natural capital partners can help with evolving frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), reporting on natural capital impacts and developing a biodiversity action plan.

Ask us about natural capital

WHAT IS NATURAL CAPITAL? 

Natural capital refers to the world's stock of natural resources, including geology, soils, air, water and species. As global population density increases, human actions like deforestation, over-extraction and land use change continue to have an impact on our planet and are contributing to a decline in natural capital. 

For businesses, this places new responsibilities on how they measure, monitor and disclose their impacts on the environment. In addition to climate change and carbon reduction measures, investors and other stakeholders are looking for actions that reduce the risk of biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.  

This presents new challenges, but with it huge opportunities. Bureau Veritas offers independent consultancy support to help develop natural capital strategies and demonstrate confidence in your environmental performance. 
 

WHY DOES NATURAL CAPITAL MATTER? 

The World Economic Forum has named biodiversity loss as one of the biggest global risks. 

Boat traveling down river between green forests

Our forests, rivers, oceans and soils provide us with the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we use to grow crops and much more. This impacts the economy too - more than half of global GDP depends on natural resources, according to the World Economic Forum.

While many organisations have developed mature climate change and carbon reduction strategies, only a small number of pioneering companies have published credible biodiversity strategies to show how they are reducing negative impacts on (and ideally enhancing) biodiversity.

HOW ARE BUSINESSES INITIATING BIODIVERSITY DISCLOSURE? 

Mindful of this threat, a number of voluntary frameworks or initiatives have been introduced including the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN). 

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) obligates eligible ‘large’ businesses to publish regular reports on their environmental and social impact activities.

These initiatives help drive awareness on natural capital and biodiversity, giving organisations a framework to manage their actions and disclose performance. In addition, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was introduced after COP15 in December 2022 and sets out goals to reduce biodiversity loss by 2050. 

The concept of natural capital and biodiversity disclosure is still in relative infancy compared to climate change legislation. However, as initiatives such as CSRD work through their initial phasing-in period and as finance companies increasingly base their investment decisions on nature-based performance, it is widely expected to rise in prominence across all sectors in the coming years.
 

WHAT SECTORS SHOULD MEASURE BIODIVERSITY IMPACT?

Dust, Safety, Site, High vis

It could easily be assumed that biodiversity risks are confined to heavily impacted sectors such as mining, forestry and agriculture, where unsustainable business practices can lead to environmental degradation, supply-chain disruptions, fluctuating prices, smaller crop yields from overused land and a loss of pollinators.

However, more and varied sectors are now reporting on and recognising their impact on biodiversity loss. This includes chemicals, personal and household goods, food & drink, oil & gas, utilities, construction and many more. Early adopters have a real opportunity to stand out from their competition.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MEASURING NATURAL CAPITAL IMPACT? 

  • Demonstrate your commitment to biodiversity alongside climate change and carbon reduction strategies 
  • Boost social value - drive competitive advantage and cement your position as an early adopter
  • Enhance access to funding - investors are also increasingly directing capital towards companies that can demonstrate and report on their biodiversity strategy
  • Support biodiversity net gain and protect species, which can minimise disruption to supply chains
  • Optimise costs associated with regulatory compliance

BUREAU VERITAS CAN BE YOUR NATURAL CAPITAL PARTNER

With an experienced team of sustainability experts offering independent consultancy, we can help you to navigate the complexities of monitoring, measuring, disclosing and improving your performance.

We can undertake gap assessments, materiality assessments and work in collaboration to develop improvement strategies, giving your teams the tools they need to reduce your biodiversity impact and communicate results. 

GET IN TOUCH WITH A MEMBER OF THE TEAM BY SUBMITTING YOUR DETAILS BELOW:

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