Key takeaways:
- Nature is a core business risk. Mismanaging biodiversity, water, and pollution can threaten a company’s survival.
- Global standards drive action. Frameworks like TNFD, IFRS, GRI and ESRS require companies to measure and report nature impacts.
- Evidence-based strategies are vital. Assess, plan, engage, and disclose -partnering with experts helps avoid costly mistakes.
In the corporate world, nature refers to the spectrum of environmental systems, functions, and living organisms that underpin and directly impact business models, value chains, and future economic outlooks. Core topics are, for example, biodiversity, water, land use, ecosystems, and circular economy issues.
Nature comprises urgent, interconnected risks such as biodiversity loss, water scarcity, land degradation, pollution, climate-nature interdependencies, ecosystem services, and regulatory pressure linked to the Global Biodiversity Framework.
In sustainability discourse, nature is not a niche topic; it is central to business survival and future viability, encompassing all environmental factors that, if mismanaged, can escalate into existential risks for companies.
What Topics Are Summarized Under Nature
Nature is an umbrella term in corporate strategy and reporting, summarizing:
- Biodiversity (species, ecosystem integrity, genetic diversity)
- Water (availability, quality, watershed resilience)
- Land use (deforestation, soil health, land conversion)
- Pollution (chemical, plastic, nutrient, and waste contamination)
- Circular Economy (resource stewardship, recycling, regeneration)
- Ecosystem services (e.g., pollination, climate regulation, flood protection)
These topics are deeply interrelated; disruption or loss in one area can rapidly cascade, causing business interruptions, loss of markets, reputational damage, regulatory liabilities, and fundamental threats to enterprise value.
Standards for Measuring Nature Impact
Multiple international regulatory and voluntary standards now provide companies frameworks to measure, report, and act upon nature-related impacts:
- TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures): Offers the LEAP assessment, sector-specific metrics, guidance on transition plans, scenario analysis, risk and opportunity registers, and recommended disclosures spanning governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics/targets. TNFD’s approach is rapidly gaining global adoption and complements climate disclosure standards.
- IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standard): Integrating TNFD’s concepts into its own evolving standards, ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) is working on standards for Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services (BEES). These disclosures are linked to the IFRS (currently S1 and S2) sustainability standards, emphasizing location-specific, value-chain, industry, and interconnected climate-nature risks.
- ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards): As part of the EU CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), ESRS E4 (biodiversity & ecosystems) mandates disclosures on nature transition plans, alongside related standards for water, pollution, and circularity.
- SBTN (Science Based Targets Network): Framework and metrics for target-setting on biodiversity, land, water, and oceans—compatible with both climate targets and nature-positive ambitions.
There are also sector guidance documents from organizations like WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), the initiative TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), the Accountability Framework initiative, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), as well as investor benchmarks such as Nature Action 100, reporting platforms including CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), and emerging regional regulations aligning disclosure requirements.
What Companies Should Do to Familiarize Themselves with Nature
- Evaluate Baseline: Use TNFD, SBTN, GRI, ESRS, or sector standards to map dependencies and impacts across operations and value chains.
- Risk and Opportunity Management: Assess nature-related risks and opportunities and include them into the enterprise risk management
- Plan Transitions: Integrate nature with climate strategies, e.g. guided by TNFD or GFANZ frameworks. Publish transition plans with goals, actions, targets, accountability, and expected impacts.
- Engage Stakeholders: Collaborate with suppliers and communities on science-based, context-specific action plans.
- Build Capacity: Strengthen skills, data systems, and governance; align incentives with nature-positive outcomes.
- Monitor & Cooperate: Track regulations and work with sector peers on data sharing, policy, and joint action.
Why companies should engage with us
Sustainserv offers capacity-building, tailored data models, sector benchmarking, and support for stakeholder engagement, all critical for avoiding strategic or reporting pitfalls as nature-related disclosure demands escalate.
The transition to meaningful nature action is highly complex, crossing scientific, regulatory, and business boundaries.
Familiarity with the full spectrum of regulatory and voluntary standards, plus a skeptical, materiality-driven approach, helps ensure businesses focus on issues that really matter. These have the potential to “kill the company” if left unaddressed.
In short, the landscape of nature as a business impact factor is evolving fast. Only a rigorous, evidence-based approach—supported by experienced partners—will enable companies to navigate it without exposing themselves to severe, existential risks.
Get in touch. We are happy to tell you more about it.
