In a close vote that nearly failed at the final hurdle, the EU Nature Restoration Law was passed on June 17th, and sets legally binding targets to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea by the end of the decade. Although the final version of the law has watered down mandatory commitments to a voluntary basis, this landmark law demonstrates that nature and biodiversity is firmly on the agenda. The passing of the nature restoration law, alongside other aspects of the EU Green Deal, creates a stable policy environment, offering potential investment opportunities for businesses including public-private partnerships.
Since regulators are getting serious about nature and biodiversity, if businesses want to maximize future opportunities, they will need to understand how their operations rely on and impact nature. Organizations should take the following the steps:
- Develop a base knowledge of nature and biodiversity. Although nature is very locally specific, and can function in highly complex ways, decoding key terms and getting familiar with words and phrases like biome and nature-positive will offer useful initial footing for future analysis. The TNFD provides an extensive glossary of terms used and various guidance documents to support firms.
- Understand regulatory exposure. To develop a nature-related strategy and appropriately prioritize, firms will need to understand compliance requirements, timelines and the granularity of required disclosures.
- Conduct an assessment of dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. By understanding how material nature and biodiversity is to your business, firms can start to both meet disclosure requirements and plan remedial actions and risk mitigation measures.
- Direct investment towards nature-related opportunities. After taking a baseline assessment and understanding the regulatory landscape, shifting from a compliance focus to competitive advantage can ensure you make the most of the changing policy agendas. This may translate as developing environmentally conscious products, engaging in the biodiversity credit market or investing in specific restoration projects.
To start taking action on the above steps and understand what technologies are available to support your nature-related analysis, tune in to our upcoming webinar on June 20th: Demystifying Nature And Biodiversity: The Risk, Reporting And Tech Landscapes.
