Biodiversity—the variety of plants, animals, and other forms of life that make up our natural world—is vital to our quality of life as well as a critical resource for companies across industries. It is also an area of risk as reductions in biodiversity can lead to scarcity, supply chain disruptions, and increased operational costs.

Insight for What’s Ahead: Companies should assess how they and their supply chains can be affected by, and have an impact on, biodiversity.Only 12.8 percent of companies in the Russell 3000 disclose a biodiversity policy, and even among materials, energy, and utility companies that have the highest disclosure rates it is a minority practice.

At a minimum, companies should consider biodiversity as part of their enterprise risk management systems. From that starting point, they should see how their activities in the marketplace, workplace, and public space (such as government affairs and corporate citizenship) can support biodiversity. Apart from the business reasons for doing so, biodiversity is a focus of attention for major investors. From P&G in 2020 to Home Depot in 2022, shareholder proposals on biodiversity demonstrated that they can pass with overwhelming support.

For more statistics on environmental and other ESG disclosures, please visit our Live Dashboards on ESG Advantage, powered by ESGAUGE. 

For more on how biodiversity loss affects business, read: Biodiversity Loss: What Does It Mean for Your Business? and watch the webcast: Biodiversity Loss: A Neglected Risk Or A Business Opportunity?