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☆ Companies Might Be Forced to Report Their Impact on Nature. A New Framework Aims to Help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

New nature-reporting recommendations aim to help companies assess their impact on and risks from the world’s natural systems. This is despite growing awareness of the catastrophic effects of biodiversity loss, Capgemini said in a report, based on a survey of executives of large organizations from major economies. The TNFD recommendations are currently voluntary, but come as regulation tightens around degradation of the natural world. Separately, in the EU, many companies are already facing obligations to report their impact on nature under the bloc’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. “We recognize that nature loss poses both risks and opportunities for business, now and in the future,” said Jennifer Motles, PMI’s chief sustainability officer.

Persons: ”, Elizabeth Mrema, David Craig, TNFD’s, “, Capgemini, Aurélie, Philip Morris, Jennifer Motles, laurent gillieron, Gillon, Gucci, Zoe Balmforth, ” Balmforth, Joshua Kirby, joshua.kirby@wsj.com Organizations: Sustainable Business, United Nations, Force, Economic, World Bank, EU, Philip Morris International, European Union, Unilever Locations: “, France, Montreal, Canada, Switzerland, ”

☆ Biocredits Could Help Save the Earth. But a Market Is Some Way Off.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Biodiversity credits could be key to funding the conservation of the Earth’s ecosystems, but setting up a functioning market to buy and sell these payment tokens won’t be easy. The World Economic Forum is working on bringing together stakeholders, but admits that a scaled-up market is still some way in the future. It follows the lead of so-called voluntary carbon credits that allow firms to buy credits to offset their own emissions. Those global carbon credit markets are now worth some $2 billion, up from $200 million five years ago, according to environmental-finance data provider Ecosystem Marketplace. “I feel a bit of ‘carbon envy’ when I look at the carbon markets,” Cornell’s Tobin said, noting that biodiversity markets lack a universal metric that can apply to every project, unlike carbon markets where each credit represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide.

Persons: John Tobin, de la Puente, Tobin, don’t, Cornell’s Tobin, ” Tobin, JULIAN HABER, Zoe Balmforth, ‘, ’ ”, Balmforth, ”, ” Nestlé, Nestlé, biocredits, Markus Mueller, ” Mueller, Joshua Kirby, joshua.kirby@wsj.com Organizations: Economic, Paulson Institute, Cornell University, Credit Suisse, Companies, UN, REUTERS, Sustainable Business, Unilever, Deutsche Locations: Australia, Switzerland, biocredits

☆ Half a Year After the COP Agreement on Nature, Companies Are Increasingly Looking at Their Biodiversity Impact
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

While mandatory reporting on nature may still be a long way off, for some companies, measuring their impact on nature makes good business sense. “Not enough companies are actually measuring their corporate biodiversity impact,” said Steve Kennedy, associate professor in business sustainability at the Rotterdam School of Management. Biodiversity impact, on the other hand, remains a more nebulous concept, with widespread uncertainty about what to measure and how to measure it. While biodiversity impact remains difficult to assess, more complete data can help, said Zoe Balmforth, co-founder of biodiversity-data startup Pivotal. And companies will soon have a final framework on which to base their voluntary biodiversity reporting.

Persons: Jennifer Motles, Philip Morris, Motles, Katie Critchlow, Rémy Cointreau, Eric Vallat, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, ”, Steve Kennedy, Kennedy, “ It’s, “, ” Philip Morris International’s, Nicolo Filippo Rosso, Zoe Balmforth, Balmforth, Cameron Frayling, Frayling, U.N, JULIAN HABER, Kering, PMI’s Motles, Joshua Kirby Organizations: Philip Morris International, Data, Sustainable Business, Fund, Nature, PMI, Rotterdam School of Management . Companies, SAS, Bloomberg, World Bank, REUTERS Governments, United Nations ’, pharma, GSK, Gucci Locations: Montreal, American, of Mexico, Lake Erie, Colombia, Kunming, Canada, joshua.kirby

☆ Companies Urged to Take Stock of Their Impact on Nature and Related Risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

“We used to think of nature as an endless supplier of resources into our business practices,” he said. “We’re trying to shift the conversation around the nature of the relationship between nature and business.”The final framework should give priority to the end result in natural areas, said Kat Bruce, founder and director of environmental-DNA startup NatureMetrics. Some $44 trillion of global economic value is moderately or highly dependent on nature, according to the World Economic Forum. Companies and shareholders should pay more attention to the material risk of natural degradation, Mr. Goldner said. The draft framework includes sector-specific guidance for areas including agriculture, mining, energy and financial services.

☆ Nestlé Says Less Than Half of Its Main Portfolio Is Ranked as Healthy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Nestlé SA promised it will work to boost the nutritional value of its snacks, drinks and food products, after most of its portfolio was rated as unhealthy. Less than half of Nestlé’s main food-and-drink portfolio is considered healthy, according to the results of an international nutrient profiling system that the Swiss food company published for the first time. Nestlé started using it last year with the aim of boosting transparency about the nutritional value of its products. “Our focus is on improving the nutritional value of our products,” Nestlé said. The rankings from the Access to Nutrition Initiative rate companies on their practices and disclosure, including on ensuring healthy products and influencing consumer choices.

☆ Gucci Launches Sustainability Drive as European Fashion Regulation Looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

It will boost transformation in the Italian fashion industry’s production models, said Gucci in a joint release with French parent Kering. “Luxury brands generally have strong and transparent supply chains and an opportunity to better communicate sourcing quality,” they said. “Luxury brands have the burden to stand for our better selves, as they embody people’s aspirations and ideals,” Mr. Solca said. In 2018, U.K. luxury fashion house Burberry said it would stop burning unsold inventory amid pressure from environmental groups, but some peers continue the practice. The hub’s activities will later be extended to Kering’s other brands, before opening to the wider fashion sector.

☆ Companies Must Reduce Impact on Biodiversity Under New U.N. Rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Companies will have to show they are reducing their impact on the world’s natural life, though not to a specific level, under a global plan agreed to Monday. Under the agreement—officially called the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, or GBF—governments between now and 2030 will introduce laws and policy measures requiring large companies and banks to disclose and reduce the damage done to ecosystems from their operations, supply chains and portfolios. The rules aim to take into account the connection between climate and nature, including cultivated and natural biodiversity, deforestation and water use, the ISSB said. Such measures are “critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems,” COP15 organizers said. Even with the framework agreed upon by nations, assessing companies’ biodiversity impact could be a headache.

Companies’ impact on biodiversity and ecosystems would become an integral part of sustainability reporting under new plans that aim to create a more complete assessment of how businesses harm the environment. Corporations should explain to investors how they are managing resources sustainably, according to reporting rules proposed Wednesday by the International Sustainability Standards Board, an arm of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, an accounting-standards body. The trial could act as a beacon for such reporting and make other companies more comfortable with the idea of reporting their biodiversity impact voluntarily, Ms. Saint-Laurent said. Overcoming reporting challengesGathering data on biodiversity still poses a challenge for corporations and can often involve expensive teams of dozens of experts. “We’re not quite at the point where we’re able to have one single number,” she said, adding, “it’s multiple numbers that show performance.” Unlike carbon-emissions reporting, biodiversity assessment can be complicated and expensive.

☆ Companies Face Prospect of New Biodiversity Rules From U.N.’s COP15 Summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Dieter Holger | Joshua Kirby | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Participants at a United Nations biodiversity summit under way in Montreal hope to hash out an agreement to help protect nature by pushing countries and businesses to minimize their environmental impact. Unlike the 2015 deal, the proposed biodiversity framework targets companies as well as nations. Biodiversity reporting would add to the challenge, particularly as the metrics are more varied and complex than carbon-emissions data. Biodiversity reporting has been done in different forms for many years. For instance, mining companies often enlist experts to produce an environmental impact report for governments before they start a project.

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