Businesses must transform or risk extinction, study warns
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A new report highlights that businesses must take the lead to combat the biodiversity and climate crises, otherwises they themselves could face extinction. Credit: goncharovaia/iStock
A major new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns that unless businesses act now to protect and restore nature, they could face extinction themselves.
Prepared over three years by 79 experts from 35 countries and informed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the report draws on thousands of scientific and economic sources to create a “science‑based roadmap for system change”.
“This is a pivotal moment,” says Matt Jones, a Co‑chair of the Assessment. “Businesses and financial institutions can either lead the way towards a more sustainable global economy or ultimately risk extinction.”
The protection of wildlife and ecosystems underpin all business activities but is often under-represented in impact assessments and reporting. Credit: Sebastián Benalcazar/Nature and Culture International
A global warning with global ambition
This is the first IPBES report to systematically examine the ties between business activity, biodiversity, and financial risk.
Its conclusion is clear: all businesses depend on healthy ecosystems — from clean water and fertile soils to climate regulation — but modern business models were not built to stay within planetary boundaries. Today, business-as-usual threatens long‑term profitability and the very ecosystems that underpin the economy.
“The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business. Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it.” Professor Stephen Polasky, a Co-chair of the Assessment
What stands in the way of nature‑positive business?
The report identifies a series of barriers to environmental progress. These include:
- Perverse incentives: In 2023, $7.3 trillion in global finance flowed into activities directly harming nature, while only $220 billion supported conservation.
- Subsidies that fuel destruction, often upheld by persistent corporate lobbying.
- Institutional inertia, with inconsistent support for nature‑positive transitions.
- Data and knowledge gaps, particularly for businesses trying to understand their nature‑related risks, with fewer than 1% of companies reporting their biodiversity impacts.
- Short‑term business models, centre on quarterly earnings and increasing material consumption.
For many companies, today’s tangle of frameworks and reporting requirements has also become a barrier in itself. “Too often,” said Stephen Polasky, “businesses spend more time trying to decipher complex, competing frameworks for compliance and reporting than taking meaningful action.”
The report also highlighted how Indigenous voices are often missing from business decisions and how this needs to be rectified. This photo is from the Wangala Festival, in which Indigenous People and WLT partner Wildlife Trusts of India (WTI) raised awareness about elephant conservation. Credit: WTI / Upasana Ganguly
The missing voices and why they matter
The report also highlights a major disconnect between scientific understanding and business awareness.
“Data and knowledge are often siloed,” said Professor Ximena Rueda, a Co-chair of the Assessment. “Scientific literature is not written for businesses and a lack of translation and attention to the needs of business has slowed uptake of scientific findings.”
Equally concerning is the limited presence of Indigenous Peoples in corporate decision‑making, despite being among the world’s most effective biodiversity stewards.
More than 60% of Indigenous lands are currently threatened by industrial development. This is a risk not only to nature, but also to the very people capable of protecting it.
A practical roadmap forward
Despite the challenges, the report stresses that businesses have powerful opportunities to act.
“This Report draws on thousands of sources… [and] shows both the risks of nature loss to business, and the opportunities for business to help reverse this,” says Matt Jones.
Stephen Polasky adds, “It helps to decipher which methods, metrics and policy tools are appropriate for the scope of business, helping bring clarity and coherence to how businesses measure and report on their interactions with nature.”
“We are moving the conversation from voluntary sustainability pledges to a science‑based roadmap for system change.” Stephen Polasky
In Caribbean Guatemala, WLT partner FUNDAECO’s carbon project is protecting the threatened coastal forests, while improving education, reproductive health services, and medical care support for local women and girls. Credit: FUNDAECO
Where World Land Trust (WLT) can help businesses go further
As expectations for businesses to clearly demonstrate credible impact increase, WLT offers a pathway grounded in science, partnership and permanence.
WLT’s long‑standing model – protecting irreplaceable habitats through trusted local partners –enables companies to support conservation that has robust, measurable outcomes.
For businesses trying to move beyond greenwashing, WLT provides a concrete solution: safeguarding threatened habitats, restoring forests, supporting Indigenous communities, and protecting carbon‑rich landscapes that strengthen climate resilience.
“In the midst of navigating complex climate reporting frameworks, businesses can be assured that a partnership with World Land Trust delivers tangible outcomes for nature, supporting your biodiversity and climate commitments, in collaboration with local people around the world”. Tracey Butler, Corporate Partnerships Manager
A turning point for business and nature
The report follows shortly after a recent government assessment warning that biodiversity loss poses an imminent threat to the UK’s national security – from disrupted supply chains to conflict over natural resources.
“Better engagement with nature is not optional for business,” said Ximena Rueda. “It is a necessity.”
The message from IPBES is clear: the future of business and the future of biodiversity are inseparable. They rise or fall together.
Click here for a summary of the report.
To have a conversation about how we can take positive action together, please email [email protected]
