Ultimately, corporations need to use this information to help inform how they can make meaningful changes in how they interact with and depend on the natural environment to support business decision making. 

Nature represents both a risk and an opportunity for today’s businesses and encompasses interconnected issues like climate change, water scarcity, pollution and biodiversity loss.  For instance, we see global supply chain disruptions related to hurricanes and other extreme weather events, water shortages and the declining availability of commodities and natural resources.

On the flip side, we see the financial benefits that come with the protection and restoration of nature, from the use of nature-based solutions to adapt to climate change or to fuel new product and technological innovations. 

However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to evaluating nature-related risks and opportunities. Each organisation needs to create its own big-picture, data-informed view of their relationship with nature across their value chain to integrate into their business strategies. 

Key challenges organisations face in doing so include:

• Lack of available data
• Non-standard measurement approaches
• Knowledge barriers
• Funding gaps

Despite these challenges, it is encouraging to see organisations take initial steps to better understand their risks and opportunities and, in some cases, even secure first mover advantage in their respective markets.