Biodiversity > Businesses sign EU nature charter for singular approach for corporate nature actions

Businesses sign EU nature charter for singular approach for corporate nature actions

Published 12:26 on October 13, 2023  /  Last updated at 12:26 on October 13, 2023  / Tom Woolnough /  Biodiversity, International

A group of 37 businesses and environmental organisations have signed the European Business Nature Commitment, following the EU’s Business and Nature Summit in Milan this week.

A group of 37 businesses and environmental organisations have signed the European Business Nature Commitment, following the EU’s Business and Nature Summit in Milan this week.

The commitment aims to demystify the “alphabet soup” of frameworks by guiding companies through the ACT-D (Assess, Commit, Transform, Disclose) process, which was developed by the Capitals Coalition and launched shortly after the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Signatories to the charter cut across sectors and include Boliden Mines, Iberdrola, Tetra Pak, Nestle, and MSCI.

ACT-D maps into a singular approach that businesses could follow:

  • Assess – start or continue to measure, value, and prioritise impacts and dependencies on nature to address those which are most material, by following the Natural Capital Protocol and Science-Based Targets initiative.
  • Commit – set, or explore how to set, science-based targets and understand priority impacts and dependencies to move toward operating within the Earth’s limits, using SBTi nature guidance.
  • Transform – make efforts to avoid and reduce negative impacts, restore and regenerate, collaborate across land and seascapes, shift business strategy and adopt circular business models.
  • Disclose – track performance and prepare to publicly report material nature-related information, following Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

During the summit, a session on measuring biodiversity on Thursday saw three corporates present bespoke approaches to understanding their sustainability impact, where biodiversity was featured within a wider suite of corporate social responsibility metrics including water, pollution, and social impact.

Spanish energy company Repsol presented its approach, that includes an in-house tool to “value and monetise” the impacts of different pollution activities. Its primary focus is on water impact, which can then be used as a proxy for biodiversity, Isaac Najera, senior manager of environment at Repsol, said.

Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca also showcased its approach, revolving around climate risk but details on biodiversity-related actions were scant outside of tree planting activities and water impact.

Meanwhile Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola focused on lifecycle assessment approaches within the Natural Capital Protocol. At the operational site level the company is collecting species and habitat data to understand, said Isabel Tome, head of biodiversity and natural capital. At COP15 last year, the energy company committed to a net positive impact on nature by 2030.

While individual dependencies on nature are business-specific, the diversity in approaches could suggest more coherence is needed within and across industries to set targets, assess nature-related impacts, and determine dependencies.

At the summit, Business for Nature announced it would be launching a new campaign in November that will call for companies to develop nature-positive strategies that follow the ACT-D approach.

By Tom Woolnough – tom@carbon-pulse.com

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