We are on the brink of a biodiversity crisis. Global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970 (WWF Living Planet Report) and in the UK nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction (State of Nature Report 2023). It’s not just about wildlife; it’s about the ecosystem processes that underpin our functioning planet. We have already surpassed six out of nine of our planetary boundaries, risking the very operation of Planet Earth. We need 1.6 earths to maintain humanity’s current way of life.  

Dystopian images of complete ecosystem collapse, exceeded tipping points, and natural system breakdown are not far from a very imaginable reality. Why are we on the brink? Because nature has been seen as something for society to limitlessly extract and plunder, rather than being accounted for as the natural asset that is integral to our existence.

The Green Finance Institute recently calculated that nature degradation could cause a 12% loss to UK GDP, which would trigger an economic slump bigger than those caused by the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID pandemic. This research highlights the serious risk that nature degradation could pose to the UK’s economy and financial sector. The 2021 Dasgupta Review described nature as a “blind spot” in economics, stating that we can no longer afford for nature to be absent from our accounts; instead, nature must be put at the heart of economic decision making.

It’s clear that it is no longer about what your business can do for the environment, but instead it’s about what the environment will do to your business if you fail to take account of it.