The climate crisis and growing resource scarcity are profoundly redefining the way businesses operate, compete, and generate value. In this new context, protecting natural capital and biodiversity is no longer an afterthought but a cornerstone of corporate resilience, growth, and competitiveness.
Nature and Business: A Systemic Connection
According to the latest report published in 2026 by the IPBES – the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – ecosystem degradation compromises the provision of essential services such as water, soil fertility, pollination, climate regulation, and natural disaster protection. The document, also adopted nationally by ISPRA, highlights how over half of global GDP depends moderately or highly on these services, and how biodiversity loss represents a systemic risk to the economy.
In February of this year, during the twelfth IPBES plenary session in Manchester, the report "Business and Biodiversity: Methodological Assessment of the Impact and Dependency of Business on Biodiversity and Nature's Contributions to People" was adopted. This global methodological document assesses the impacts and dependencies of the productive sector on nature and suggests over 100 concrete actions to transform systemic risks into opportunities for change.
The central message is clear: every business, regardless of sector or size, both depends on and influences nature. This applies not only to activities traditionally linked to natural resources, such as agriculture or fishing, but also to sectors such as digital, finance, and insurance, which indirectly benefit from ecosystem services.
Economic risks and tangible impacts on productive sectors
The connection between the loss of natural capital and biodiversity and economic stability is profound: the World Economic Forum has estimated that over 50% of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature, with sectors such as agri-food, construction, fashion, tourism, and finance among the most exposed to risks arising from ecosystem degradation.
The impacts are already observable. Some examples include:
- the decline in pollinators and soil degeneration compromise yields and quality in the agri-food sector, increasing the instability of supply chains;
- poor access to water and the pollution of watersheds affect both industrial production processes and operating costs;
- extreme weather events linked to ecological degradation increase insurance costs and the risk of business interruption;
- the loss of natural ecosystems such as coral reefs, beaches, and forests reduces the attractiveness of destinations;
- the growing recognition of nature-related risks is putting investments in activities that degrade ecosystems under scrutiny.
It is in this context that the IPBES report highlights how global economic growth in recent decades has come at the cost of a drastic erosion of global natural capital, which has declined by approximately 40% since 1992.
Therefore, protecting ecosystems means not only caring for the planet, but also safeguarding the very foundations of global business models and economic systems.
Fonte immagini: Pexels
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