Is “Nature Positive” the new “Net Zero?”


On Monday, COP16 - the United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity -  kicked off in Cali, Colombia. Despite previous UN meetings on biodiversity being the realm of NGOs, activists, and governments, companies are now flooding in - this year’s event is expected to have more than 1,000 private-sector participants, and ‘nature positive’ goals are moving up the corporate agenda.

The new term of art is “Nature Positive” - defined as limiting and reversing biodiversity loss, with a goal of increasing nature by 2030. However, with so many companies brandishing the term around, some wonder if it is becoming a buzzword and if biodiversity is the next area ripe for greenwashing. 

Conserving nature is harder to measure than climate, which has clear units of measurement (tons of CO2e). Advocates are pushing for a global biodiversity framework with comparable and consistent metrics. Marco Lambertini of the Nature Positive Initiative said: “The climate community did a super important thing: straight after Paris, they developed a net zero pathway, and then they attached a global standardised way to measure emissions. Now, we need to do the same for nature.”

However, more guidance is needed for companies on how they can help preserve nature, which was one of the goals of this COP. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced plans at COP16 to meet this need for more guidance and harmonize nature-related metrics used by corporations to help them track progress toward the nature-positive goal. These guidelines will be released in 2025 at COP30 (the climate COP) in Brazil. 

COP16 comes at an inflection point for biodiversity. A WWF report released this month revealed a catastrophic 73% decline in wildlife population sizes over the last 50 years. To accelerate progress toward biodiversity goals, the other issues of this COP include:

The scale of the biodiversity problem and the work that needs to be done here may feel overwhelming, and with biodiversity rates continuing to decline at record rates, time is of the essence. With the climate COP (COP29) in Baku in less than a month, and with the interconnected nature of biodiversity and climate action, some are calling for reform of the COP process and to combine these two events

Climate Voters Having A Big Impact

The US election is just around the corner and, so far, the climate issue has faded to the background amongst the super-heated campaign rhetoric. However, early voting data shows that climate voters could have a bigger impact than previously thought, especially in vital swing states. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit Environmental Voter Project (EVP), over 50,000 first-time climate voters (who say climate is their top issue) have participated in early voting. In every swing state except Georgia, they are turning out at higher rates than other voters.

Source: EVP

With such a tight race and climate voters coming out in force, Bill Mckibben argues it may now be time for Democratic hopeful Kamala Harris to start playing her climate card. Mckibben advises Harris to “aggressively remind voters nationwide of what’s at stake, maybe in an ad with a drone shot of the destruction caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton near Augusta or Asheville or Tampa.”

SEC Fines WisdomTree over ESG

Despite closing its ESG Enforcement Task Force a few months back, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be accelerating ESG enforcement. 

SAF Taking Off

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has been slow to pick up due to its increased costs compared to standard jet fuel. However, as tax breaks and minimum requirements for SAF kick in, airlines are increasingly purchasing and implementing sustainable fuels. In the US, this week, a bill was introduced to extend the SAF tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act until 2037, and the Department of Energy offered $3 billion in loans to two major SAF projects.

Investors Prioritize Sustainable Investments

Image by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

The second annual “Sustainability in Private Equity” report I co-authored with my colleagues at BCG highlights that sustainability is becoming a critical factor for private equity firms as it is now considered a value creator. 

The research found that although private companies lag behind public companies in decarbonization strategies, they outperform public companies regarding diversity and job creation. Over the next three years, 85% of the surveyed firms said they expect to increase their prioritization of sustainability-related topics, and almost 70% said that companies that consider sustainability warrant larger valuation.

The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. 

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