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News article30 November 2021Directorate-General for Environment

European Business and Nature Summit: European business leaders demand more ambitious policies to reverse nature loss and mainstream biodiversity in the economy

Today and tomorrow, high-level policy makers and business leaders are gathering at the European Business & Nature Summit to scale up business action for nature ahead of the crucial UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15) in the spring of 2022. Organised by the EU Business@Biodiversity Platform of the European Commission and other partners, the Summit aims to strengthen the growing movement of companies across Europe and beyond that are putting nature and people at the centre of their recovery strategies.

Taking place between two crucial meetings for life on Earth, the event takes stock of the achievements of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, which saw major financial pledges for nature by public and private entities as well as financial institutions. It also prepares the ground for an ambitious global agreement to halt and reverse the loss of the planet's plants, animals and ecosystems at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2022, strengthening the dialogue between businesses and policy makers to mobilise the needed efforts for a resilient and sustainable future.

Opening the Summit, Executive Vice-President in charge of the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans said:

Whereas the climate crisis is treated with urgency, the biodiversity crisis and the threat of ecocide have not yet risen high enough on the global agenda. Businesses increasingly recognize the urgency to act and I call on them to be vocal about the risks of biodiversity loss. Restoring our relationship with nature will stave off economic losses, generate new jobs, and ensure a habitable planet for future generations.

Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičijus said:

Businesses are a crucial lever in the system-wide change that needs to happen if we are to have a stable climate and a living planet where everyone can thrive. I count on them to drive the ambition for a Global Biodiversity Framework to be agreed at Biodiversity COP15, with ramped up biodiversity funding and sufficient mainstreaming of biodiversity in all sectors.                         

The Summit features front-running businesses and financial institutions sharing experiences, best practice examples and initiatives that aim to integrate natural capital and biodiversity into corporate decision-making. It also encourages businesses that have not yet engaged with natural capital and biodiversity to be inspired by their peers and begin taking action. Finally, the event invites new signatories to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge calling on global leaders to reverse nature loss within this decade and committing to protect and restore biodiversity through their finance activities and investments. These new signatories will boost the group of 75 financial institutions representing €12 trillion assets.

Speakers include CEOs of large companies as well as high-ranking representatives of the European institutions and financial institutions. This virtual event is organised for businesses of all sizes – from SMEs to large corporations and financial institutions, including those that are less familiar with the issue of biodiversity.

Background

The European Business and Nature Summit is an annual conference organised by the European Commission and members of the EU Business and Biodiversity Platform since 2014. The objective of the Summit is to offer a high-level platform for dialogue between European business leaders and policymakers that would result in (1) strengthening a European business movement for biodiversity and (2) scaling-up business actions in favour of biodiversity by relevant European policies. 

This year it is organised together with business associations EpE (Entreprises pour Environnement, a French Business and Biodiversity Platform), VBA (the Value Balancing Alliance) and BIGC (Biodiversity in Good Company, the German Business and Biodiversity Platform).

The EU Business and Biodiversity platform is network for sharing best practices and cooperation, connecting European Commission with forward thinking business and related business alliances. The platform has been prioritising work on natural capital accounting and in particular methods for corporates biodiversity impact measurement. This means in particular valuing nature for business and financials, notably assessing, quantifying and valuing dependencies and impacts (notably related risks) to inform decision-making and reporting. The platform has seen a growing membership (now well above 400) and has evolved into a network of representatives that share and promote the latest state of the art of biodiversity and natural capital considerations into business decision making.

More information

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/business/index_en.htm

European Business and Nature Summit 2021 - Scaling up business action for nature (virtual-event.be)

Details

Publication date
30 November 2021
Author
Directorate-General for Environment

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