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Global assessment shows: better collaboration between business and nature is necessary and possible

Published On: February 12th, 2026

Manchester/Netherlands – Today, representatives of more than 150 countries adopted the IPBES Business & Biodiversity Assessment. This report presents scientifically substantiated methods that companies can use to map their impacts on and dependencies on biodiversity. The message is clear: collaborating with nature is not optional for business but necessary. Not only for a company’s image, but precisely for its core business.

It was a tense meeting: not only because of the turbulent global political situation, but more importantly because it was clearly established that the loss of nature entails increasingly evident and higher risks, and that we must therefore look for new economic models, new instruments and new ways of doing things.

The report

For the first time, the new IPBES report systematically categorizes the different methods by which companies can map their impacts and dependencies. These may include direct influences, for example in their immediate surroundings, and indirect influences through value chains. These direct dependencies do not only apply to agriculture, which depends on natural processes such as pollination, but also, for example, to computer chip factories that come to a standstill without a stable supply of cooling water, or to tourism, for which a healthy landscape and living environment are essential. These companies are part of a value chain (for example for the production of food and cars), in which other companies are therefore indirectly but crucially dependent on nature in other locations.

The main points from this report are:

  1. Biodiversity loss poses a risk to all sectors of our economy, to employment, public health and well-being. Current business models and economic strategies actually contribute to the loss of nature.

  2. Scientists have the knowledge, data, methods, models and tools to take action now, but companies also need enabling conditions such as clear regulations and incentives for sustainable business from governments and the financial sector. The report provides various options for action in the areas of policy and regulation, economic and financial systems, social norms and values, technology and data, knowledge and capacity.

  3. Collaboration with all societal partners is necessary to help companies change. This concerns governments and the financial sector for regulation and policy, support for small and medium-sized enterprises in applying the methods, but also consumption patterns by customers and local embedding in initiatives and neighborhoods.

The Business and Biodiversity report not only provides a scientific problem analysis, but also concrete courses of action for companies, governments, financial institutions and civil society organizations. With the summary for policymakers, political agreement is also reached on its political implications. After that, it is up to the IPBES members – the countries – to shape the implementation of the agreements. Examples of implementation can vary widely, from, for example, requiring companies to disclose the risks they face, to biodiversity-friendly building regulations, but business-as-usual is not an option: the risks are too great for that.

Dutch contribution

Several Dutch scientists worked on this report for more than two years. Marije Schaafsma of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was lead author of one of the six chapters and according to her the key message of this report is:

“Biodiversity loss, together with climate change, is the greatest long-term risk for business. This report establishes that companies must address these risks as quickly as possible, while governments and financial institutions must provide clear, sustainable frameworks.”

Wieteke Willemen of the University of Twente also emphasizes this dependency:

“The time when ‘nature’ was only an issue for governments and civil society groups is truly over. All companies, not only the agricultural sector or forestry, have a link to nature. This report shows how that link can be made clearer and who can and must act on these insights.”

In political terms, that dependency is not yet always and everywhere equally clear.

Mark van Oorschot (PBL): “This report calls for stronger policies to encourage companies to examine how further biodiversity loss affects them.”

Policy and business could grow closer together.

Caroline van Leenders (RVO): “It is important that governments work intensively with the private sector to realize the transition to a nature-inclusive economy” and Klaudia Prodani (UTwente): “The Business and Biodiversity assessment shows that data and methods to green the financial system are more than sufficiently available and that central banks and financial policymakers have an important role to play in directing financial flows towards production methods that are less harmful to nature and the environment.”

About IPBES

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is the global scientific body for biodiversity and ecosystem services, also described as ‘the IPCC for biodiversity’. With more than 150 member countries, IPBES assesses the state of biodiversity and nature worldwide, and provides policy options based on the best available knowledge.

Report and press release

More information

Please contact pbesnl@biodiversiteit.org

Dutch authors who contributed to the report:


On behalf of PBES NL, the Dutch platform of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), carried out by SoortenNL and Radboud University

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