Every year since 1970, Earth Day is being celebrated all over the world. It is the largest environmental initiative created to raise awareness of the importance of environmental protection and encourage individual and collective actions to curb climate change.
This year's theme is "Our Power, Our Planet", an invitation to underline once again the active role that citizens, communities and institutions play, and to remember that only together - through collaboration and collective action - can businesses, governments, academia and civil society chart a path towards a true ecological transition.
Latest researches by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) – the leading global scientific body that evaluates scientific information to understand climate change – confirm that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, resulting from human activities are responsible for increasing global warming which is already causing extreme weather events and widespread damage to the environment and people: each of the last four decades has been progressively warmer than any previous decade since 1850.
Beyond traditional sustainability: climate action cannot remain isolated
The choices we make today will determine the impacts and changes we will see in the climate in the future. If we act now, we can still make a difference: a consistent and sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would limit the evolution and worsening of climate change.
In this scenario, the role of companies, in awareness of their environmental impact, is fundamental: the protection of natural capital and biodiversity is no longer an accessory option but a pillar for corporate resilience, growth and competitiveness. Protecting ecosystems does not just mean taking care of the Planet but protecting the very foundations of business models and global economic systems.
In the light of recent scientific data, which seem to outline an inevitable future, the concept of "nature-positive" economics is thus emerging as a new economic paradigm, promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and confirmed by the World Economic Forum.
This approach aims not only to reduce negative impacts on the environment, but to reverse the loss of nature by 2030, transforming ecosystems from liabilities into value-generating assets.
Adopting a nature-positive model means:
- systematically evaluate impacts and dependencies on nature along the entire value chain;
- integrate these assessments into decision-making processes, governance systems and strategic plans;
- develop products and services that generate net benefits for ecosystems;
- collaborate with local stakeholders to preserve and regenerate natural capital.
A fundamental operational reference for businesses is the framework of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, which guides companies to identify, measure and report risks and opportunities related to nature, similarly to what has already happened for climate risks.
Implications for business: from compliance to opportunities
In this already complex context, the European regulatory framework also continues to evolve: with the Omnibus I Package, recently approved and definitively adopted, some provisions have been revised to reduce administrative burdens and strengthen the competitiveness of European companies. In particular, the size thresholds of companies directly subject to the obligations have been reduced and more gradual application times have been introduced, while maintaining the general framework of sustainability regulation.
However, this does not mean that the topic loses relevance for the production system. Even businesses not directly subject to the obligations will continue to be affected through supply chains, information requests from partners and investors and the evolution of sustainable finance.
What must emerge, however, is that beyond regulatory obligations, protecting nature helps generate economic value and innovation: nature-based solutions such as: the restoration of wetlands, reforestation, agroecology or urban green infrastructures, can reduce operating costs, increase resilience and improve corporate reputation. The World Economic Forum has stated that a transition to a nature-positive economy could create more than $10 trillion in economic opportunities by 2030.
A new intensive programme to structure an integrated sustainability strategy
Natural capital and biodiversity are a strategic element for companies if integrated into sustainability plans, in synergy with strategies to combat climate change and sustainable finance tools. If nature protection therefore takes on the role of a transformative element in our economy, then the inevitable future that emerges from the recent reports of the most important international organizations can truly be changed.
It is on this premise that UN Global Compact Network Italy has just launched the "Starting Nature" programme, dedicated to biodiversity and natural capital, with the aim of accompanying companies in laying the foundations for identifying impacts and dependencies, aligning with international standards and defining operational and measurable roadmaps.
Read also:
Omnibus I Package: final EU green light for the directive
Protecting the natural capital and biodiversity: a strategic priority for businesses