G&A Resource Paper: Incorporating Biodiversity into Sustainability Reporting

G&A has published a new resource paper: Incorporating Biodiversity into Sustainability Reporting. This is an except from our resource paper:

Over the past several years, biodiversity has become a topic of greater concern for businesses globally – and for good reason. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) 2024 Living Planet Report, a 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations took place between 1970-2020. The United Nations’ 2024 Sustainable Development Goals Report also emphasizes the lack of meaningful progress to protect species and ecosystems:

“Global trends underscore persistent challenges to biodiversity and forests, despite their critical roles as planetary life-support systems.… Alarmingly, species are silently becoming extinct, the protection of key biodiversity areas has stalled and global illicit wildlife trafficking has steadily increased, posing serious threats to biodiversity and the benefits it provides to people.”

Habitat destruction and other local human activity are the primary drivers for biodiversity loss, but global climate change presents a compounding factor by heightening risks to ecosystems and animal/plant life cycles. The Fifth National Climate Assessment notes:

“Climate-related stressors and other drivers of global change, such as land-use change, habitat destruction, and overexploitation, can create significant biodiversity changes and loss. Even short-term extreme events such as heatwaves can generate significant species impacts.”

Facing a challenge this dire requires action from all levels of society including corporations. After all, as is often said, there is no business to be done on a dead planet. This resource paper explores:

• What biodiversity means for businesses
• An introduction to frameworks for biodiversity reporting
• Current tools to identify and assess a company’s biodiversity-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities
• What the future may hold for biodiversity certifications and credits

Want to keep reading?

Complete the form on our website to download the paper for free.