Businesses Warned as Biodiversity Loss Risks Intensify

Nature is a double-edged sword for global business. A groundbreaking report will reveal how businesses profit from exploiting natural resources while simultaneously harming biodiversity.

An incisive scientific assessment, the Business and Biodiversity Report, set to be released by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), examines the impact and dependence of businesses on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.

Business and Biodiversity

This first-of-its-kind report explores how businesses benefit from nature and how global commercial activities affect ecosystems. Representatives from 152 member governments are expected to approve it at IPBES’ 12th Plenary Session in the United Kingdom in February 2026.

Speaking at a media briefing ahead of the report’s launch, IPBES Executive Secretary Luthando Dziba said the assessment was commissioned to help governments understand global business relationships with biodiversity. The report aims to strengthen knowledge to support businesses that depend on and impact biodiversity.

“Biodiversity decline also represents a major risk for businesses,” Dziba said, noting that biodiversity loss ranks among the top 10 global economic risks.

He added that the report will help companies understand and measure how they rely on and affect biodiversity, guiding actions to reduce their ecological footprint.

“Governments have an interest in understanding how sectors impact biodiversity and how they depend on it,” Dziba said. “Considering the unprecedented rate of biodiversity decline, this should serve as a wake-up call, as it presents significant risks for businesses whose operations depend on biodiversity.”

Governments can design policies and regulations that encourage sustainable practices by analysing how companies both benefit from and affect biodiversity, Dziba added.

IPBES, an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science–policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services, has published several scientific assessments over the years. These assessments provide policymakers with up-to-date knowledge on the challenges facing nature, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Biodiversity Loss: A Loss to Business

IPBES’ landmark Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, released in 2019, found that 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, many within decades. Changes in land and sea use, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive alien species are the leading drivers of nature’s decline.

Nature provides vital ecosystem services—such as pollination, water purification, climate regulation, and raw materials—that generate trillions of dollars in economic value. Yet global businesses significantly damage nature through mining, agricultural production, manufacturing, and oil and gas exploration.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned that half of the global economy is threatened by biodiversity loss, calling for a shift from destructive activity towards a nature-positive economy.

WEF’s New Nature Economy Report II states that “USD 44 trillion of economic value generation—over half the world’s GDP—is potentially at risk due to business dependence on nature and its services.”

Its Global Risks Report 2022 ranked biodiversity loss as the third most severe threat humanity will face in the next decade.

In 2024, IPBES released two reports highlighting that addressing the biodiversity crisis could unlock major business and innovation opportunities. Swift action to protect ecosystems could generate USD 10 trillion and create over 390 million jobs by 2030. Conversely, failure to act on climate change adds at least USD 500 billion annually to the cost of achieving biodiversity goals.