Restoring and preserving biodiversity is no longer just an environmental imperative. Forward-looking companies are waking up to the business benefits of looking after nature. In this post, we look at why and suggest some actions organisations can harvest the benefits and reduce the risks.
There’s no business without nature. Nature can be seen as natural capital, the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources that enables businesses to function to the benefit of society. Research from PwC finds that 55% of the world’s GDP relies on nature. In technical parlance, the various benefits that humans derive from healthy ecosystems are known as ecosystem services. The greater the variety of ecosystem services available – in other words, the greater the biodiversity on the planet – the more resilient businesses can be.
Biodiversity and ecosystems find themselves exposed to unprecedented threats driven by changes in land use, climate change, pollution, use of natural resources and invasive species. The result is a rapid decline in the associated ecosystem services across the world. The 2025 Global Risk Report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranks biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse over the next 10 years as the second-biggest risk, up from number three last year and number 37 back in 2009.
Why is this relevant to business?
Let’s take the pharma, food and extractive industries as an example. These sectors are particularly reliant on natural resources such as water, soils, air, minerals and plants. Disruption to the functioning of the ecosystems that provide these resources can create problems such as supply chain disruptions and rising insurance costs, all of which pose financial threats. These dependencies represent real risks to the long-term health of a business and thus to the investors that back it. But it’s not a one-way street. Besides being reliant on ecosystems, every business also has certain impacts on natural capital. These impacts and dependencies are a source of both risks and opportunities. Helping restore and preserve biodiversity therefore ultimately means futureproofing your business.
Postponing action may exacerbate the dependencies and risks linked to biodiversity loss. The WEF estimates that inaction will cost USD 2.7 trillion in lost revenue by 2030.
Action to address the biodiversity loss challenge, on the other hand, can be a major business opportunity. According to the WEF, protecting nature could generate USD 10 trillion in business opportunities annually by 2030 and create nearly 400 million new jobs.
In this context, it’s a good time for companies to integrate biodiversity into their strategies. It enables them to address the dependencies linked to biodiversity loss and unlock new opportunities for growth, innovation and competitive advantage. Companies that tackle the biodiversity challenge will be better positioned to adapt to strengthen their market position in a changing world.
What does preserving and promoting biodiversity entail in practice? Depending on the sector a company operates in, it could include sourcing materials through sustainable practices (e.g. implementing regenerative agriculture practices to enhance soil health and biodiversity), building resilient supply chains by engaging suppliers to address local biodiversity risks, or even investing in synthetic biology to develop nature-mimicking materials.
How can businesses get started?
Businesses can help address biodiversity loss by reducing their impacts on nature to build a nature-positive future. The path to restoring biodiversity is not without its challenges, but it’s a journey well within reach for companies ready to innovate and lead.
They can start by understanding what nature means to their business. This involves identifying dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities linked to biodiversity on a location level. Analysis using technologies such as geospatial data and risk modelling based on the company’s location can yield tremendous insight into these matters. This understanding will equip companies to set priorities in terms of locations and/or commodities. Building on this work, they can set targets and actions to address impacts, risks and dependencies as the basis for creating transition pathways and preparing to communicate what they’re doing.
The time is ripe
Across the world, we’re witnessing a significant surge in companies integrating nature into their core strategies. They’re not only seizing the intrinsic opportunities. They’re also responding to external factors. With biodiversity gaining momentum in international forums, included in national laws and entering the radar of investors, the external pressure on businesses can only be expected to increase.
In Switzerland, for example, the financial services regulator FINMA has already published a circular shifting climate-related financial risk obligations further towards a holistic nature-related perspective. This will have considerable implications for banks, insurance companies and other providers of financial services, requiring them to understand and manage the nature-related financial risks of their business – all within an ambitious timeline.
Internationally, regulations and frameworks such as the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) reflect the fact that both governments and investors increasingly require biodiversity to be a priority in business strategies. This is driving more businesses to account in greater detail for their impacts on the environment. CSRD already requires companies to report not only on the financial risks posed by biodiversity loss, but also on the impact of their operations on the environment. This year already, Swiss companies falling under this regulation will need to disclose their dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities around environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, water and biodiversity. Other regulations are coming into force by end of 2025, including the EU’s Regulation on Deforestation-free Products. This makes it even more important for businesses to monitor and mitigate biodiversity risks within their supply chains.
Several early adopters in Switzerland have already started their journey towards TNFD, putting themselves one step ahead when it comes to addressing nature dependencies.
As a member of the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and a signatory of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Switzerland is aligning its targets and action plan aimed at protecting biodiversity. The implementation (2023-30) of Phase II of the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan may result in restrictions on business activities harmful to biodiversity and incentives to those promoting biodiversity protection.
Looking further into the future, themes such as nature credits and accounting for the use of genetic resources will become more prominent alongside these regulations and frameworks.
What should your next steps be?
A good place to start your journey to nature-positive action is by conducting a biodiversity assessment tailored to your specific locations and value chain. Whether or not you're pursuing non-financial reporting, the TNFD’s LEAP (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) approach provides valuable guidance for such assessments. When combined with the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), it can help you shape a robust nature strategy that enhances business resilience and future-proofs your operations.
An experienced advisor can guide you further in strengthening your approach by helping you design and implement your assessment, prioritise actions, identify data requirements, and align with key frameworks and regulations. Additionally, they can support the integration of biodiversity considerations into your broader sustainability and business strategies
Contact us if you need support or want to talk about this or related matters in more depth.
Contact us
Craig Stevenson
Partner, Finance Transformation Platform Leader and Sustainability Platform Leader, Zurich, PwC Switzerland
+41 58 792 25 37
Dr. Dorina Seitaj
Manager, Sustainability & Climate Change, Advisory, PwC Switzerland
