World Business Council for Sustainable Development Report on Nature-based Solutions
On the first full day of COP27, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a report, The role of Nature-based Solutions in strategies for Net Zero, Nature Positive and addressing Inequality.
The WBCSD is a global, CEO-led community of over 200 sustainable businesses working collectively to accelerate the system transformations needed to meet net-zero and nature positive goals. The NbS report, released on November 7th alongside supporting technical papers, presents findings and recommendations for the role of companies’ actions on NbS and how this can be leveraged to deliver against climate, nature and equity. It also includes examination of the role of NbS in Net Zero, with supporting issue briefs for companies, and provides insights on future trajectories for NbS in corporate sustainability action.
The report highlights the role of business in addressing the Climate, Nature, and Equity crises, as part of the commitment by WBCSD and its member companies to working toward Vision 2050, an initiative for meeting transformation at scale in order to live within planetary boundaries by mid-century. The report outlines the developing frameworks and solutions that are supporting businesses in taking action. For example, the High-level Business Actions on Nature, developed by Business for Nature, is responding to World Economic Forum research that indicates over half of the world’s total GDP is at moderate or severe risk due to nature loss, and acknowledges that the role of business is critical to delivering a nature positive world by 2030.
The report focuses on the role of NbS in climate action, with a remaining knowledge gap in the crucial approaches focusing on nature and equity. As highlighted in the IUCN Global Standard, NbS are actions that are underpinned by biodiversity, and therefore we at NbSI would welcome further development of NbS business strategies that work with nature to address societal challenges to provide benefits for both human well-being and biodiversity.
Read the full WBCSD report, The role of Nature-based Solutions in strategies for Net Zero, Nature Positive and addressing Inequality.
