84 pages – French version here

Strong societal expectations about nature conservation, international events for raising awareness among leaders in 2020-2021, animal-based epidemics linked to growing human pressure on natural ecosystems, and indisputable scientific findings on the collapse of biodiversity have led businesses over the last few years to include nature more decisively in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Corporates have also become aware of the consequences and risks to them of potentially serious or systemic biodiversity erosion.

This report seeks to describe the actual levers and modes of action that are successfully being used by business, and also to identify the conditions for their scale-up: the point is how to take or pursue actions of a similar nature at different plants and sites, or in other sectors and businesses, without switching pressure from one environment or issue to another? This original publication, rich in examples, responds to it through 60 sharing of best practices.
See companies members: https://dev.epe-asso.org/en/our-members/

This publication is divided into three chapters:

  • Chapter 1 describes the mechanisms to avoid or reduce the pressures on biodiversity exerted by business, as listed in the IPBES summary report. These pressures are well known and measurable, even though their impacts vary depending on the sensitivity of the environments in which they occur. Stopping biodiversity erosion starts with reducing all such pressures. This is the first step of effective corporate action.
  • Chapter 2 presents solutions for recreating biodiversity-friendly spaces and conditions. This involves safeguarding areas where nature can spontaneously thrive, and from time to time stimulating or stepping up such action. The solutions are profoundly different according to the environments in which they are implemented. IUCN recommendations list three area categories for action: wilderness areas to be protected, productive areas to be exploited in a more biodiversity-friendly manner, and built-up areas where nature is to be reintroduced.
  • The third and last chapter deals with management methods and tools to promote the factoring of nature into economic decision-making. It draws in particular on the biodiversity management analysis performed by businesses supporting the act4nature cross-cutting commitments and Business for Nature.