Major companies around the world are falling short when it comes to assessing and measuring the impact of their actions on the natural world, a new report from the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) has found.
The WBA’s Nature Benchmark assessed how more than 800 major businesses across sectors including household products, apparel, mining, and food are impacting nature and seeking to protect and restore ecosystems, using data collected over a two-year period from 2022 to 2024.
It found that just 5% of all firms have carried out an assessment of the impact of their operations on nature, while just 1% have undertaken an assessment on their dependencies on nature.
‘Companies that demonstrate robust corporate governance score significantly better on other sustainability issues. To enhance impact, companies should develop a sustainability strategy that covers nature, supported by concrete high-level responsibility and accountability for delivering the strategy,’ the WBA noted.
‘Take nature for granted’
“The Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark agreement at COP15, recognises the private sector has a role to play if we hope to preserve life on Earth,” commented Jenni Black, nature transformation lead at the World Benchmarking Alliance. “But our research shows that the vast majority of large companies continue to take nature for granted, despite the fact a healthy planet underpins a healthy economy.
“Two years after the GBF was agreed, it’s imperative for companies to understand and act on their impacts on nature. From their own operations to their value chains, they need to prioritise halting and reversing biodiversity loss.”
Key findings
Among the WBA‘s core findings were that more than two fifths (43%) of companies were found to provide qualitative evidence of plastic reduction through one-off programs or initiatives targeting specific products. However, only 19% offer quantitative metrics to support these claims, and a mere 7% have set quantitative, time-bound targets for reducing plastic use and waste.
Additionally, the WBA found that 29% of companies report reductions in water use or disclose water usage from water-stressed areas, indicating a growing recognition of their role in global water availability. However, just 15% provide metrics on discharged pollutants, and only 4% have set targets to reduce these pollutants.
Finally, while 66% of companies assign sustainability oversight to their boards, the WBA’s research noted that only 2% demonstrate that their boards possess relevant expertise in areas such as biodiversity or climate.
“Governments, investors and civil society should be holding the private sector accountable, to ensure that all large and transnational companies regularly monitor, assess, and disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity,” Black added.
