(c) Kim Dunn at RSPB
Today’s blog is written by Kim Dunn, Senior Policy Officer, who is live in Montreal exploring the importance of business voices at CBD COP15.
The dream is that conferences, pledges and reports on biodiversity inclusion in business decisions is no longer needed, as it will be inherently embedded into the system. The pledge is a call to action and the starting point on the journey.
At COP15, we are seeing a whole host of launches, reports, initiatives and speeches from the business and finance groups here. While they all talk a big talk, and all aim to help nature be embedded in all business decisions, the time for talk is over, and we need action. Nature Positive seems to be everywhere at COP15 – it’s showing up in events, there is a whole pavilion named after it, and new initiatives being launched to bring it further into the spotlight – including the Nature Positive Business Pledge. Alongside UK Business and Biodiversity Forum, wsp, the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) and Aldersgate Group, RSPB collaborated to develop the Nature Positive Business pledge.
We need a way forward for business that creates a Nature Positive pathway and process, provides a set of principles, sets smart targets, and delivers results so that progress can be tracked and continually built on. The pledge will aim to be iterative to ensure relevance and practicality and we recognise that in the future there will be updates to take into account changes in understanding and knowledge such as: outcomes from the Convention on Biological Diversity conferences; development of a common understanding of Nature Positive; and practical application of the pledge.
The risks stemming from nature loss, and the gains to be won from supporting nature recovery, are material to business and their stakeholders. It is in the interest of business to address their impacts on nature now by starting on a route to become Nature Positive.
The pledge is an important moment for businesses, firstly to commit to working for nature, but also to send a clear message that businesses are willing to do the heavy lifting, trial new methods of business-as-usual, and collaborate to ensure that Nature Positive means just that.
As we move through the COP15 conversations, there seem to be two consistent controversies emerging, so I thought I would explore these head on – Nature Positive Terminology, and Private Sector engagement.
Why Nature Positive?
There has been a fair bit of backlash over the Nature Positive terminology here at COP15, but essentially, there is a significant concern that Nature Positive is being used as a greenwashing term, giving corporates the choice to offset biodiversity loss, rather than change practices.
For us, Nature Positive means so much more – it means that every element of the business has considered, mitigated and enhanced nature through their decision making processes. It means transforming their finances to ensure that investments don’t contribute to the degradation of nature; it means tracing and understanding supply chains and actively choosing to procure materials that are not harming nature; it means engaging and educating stakeholders and employees on the risks and opportunities of nature – put simply, Nature Positive cannot mean offsetting, as offsetting simply isn’t nature positive.
There is an opportunity for everyone in the community to set out, define and agree what Nature Positive needs to mean – the term is out there, and it will be used. What we need to do now is own it, hold others accountable and make sure that Nature Positive means what we need it to mean. If the NGOs, civil society, governments and progressive businesses can be clear that Nature Positive is not ‘just another greenwash tool’ then we can ensure that the term encompasses all it needs to encompass.
It is also openly acknowledged that there is a significant lack of indigenous peoples voices within the narrative of Nature Positive – and this is a problem globally. In the UK, this requires more local engagement and understanding of how communities can shape meaning of Nature Positive.
For now, Nature Positive remains the rallying cry, but we must ensure accountability, rigour and transparency in how the term is used.
Why businesses?
Businesses are everywhere, there is no getting away from it. When it comes to the conservation sector, engaging with business can be challenging and sometimes contentious – but businesses are here to stay, and form a fundamental part of our communities, livelihoods and the wider economy. They have a crucial role to play, and we are increasingly seeing businesses step up to the mark.
By working in collaboration, sharing knowledge, admitting challenges and addressing the climate and nature crisis together, the NGO sector and private sector can hold each other to account, trialling new approaches, learning new techniques, and, as mentioned above, can ensure that we are all working in the right direction, with the right tools and terms, for a better future for nature. By being part of the conversation, we can hold each other to account and ensure the right voices are in the room.
Additionally, transitioning to a Nature Positive economy could yield $10.1 trillion of business value globally, and create 395 million jobs by 2030. Businesses simply have to be involved in the transition to a Nature Positive future.
There are however, elements of COP15 that do need to be kept separate from businesses and NGOs, and with criticism of lobbying, hijacking of negotiation points and serving foie gras with dinner, it’s, it’s easy to see why we need to ensure that there is no infiltration of the private sector into country delegations to ensure the process is credible and socially just.
Nature Positive economic progress has opportunities and risks that need to be understood. (c) Lisa Brown
Nature Positive doesn’t yet have all the answers – but it should play a crucial part in making us ask the right questions.
Nature Positive is simple – its means changing the world so that we have more nature in the future than we do now. There will be many ways of achieving this, and many errors may be made along the way, but that cannot be an excuse not to start.
The pledge is a call to action, it is the starting point on the journey – one that, if we get it right, will mean that conferences, pledges and reports on biodiversity inclusion in business decisions is no longer needed, as it will be inherently embedded into the systems.
That’s the dream, but can we get there?
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