At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the strategic importance of nature and biodiversity for our economy and livelihoods continued to rise on the agenda.

The discussions were framed by the Forum's 2024 Global Risk Report, which ranked biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse as one of the three most severe risks for the next ten years. The Forum's New Nature Economy Report series had previously highlighted that over half of the world's GDP — $44 trillion — is highly or moderately dependent on nature, and therefore at risk from ecosystem collapse.

Against this backdrop, Annual Meeting conversations focused on a systemic approach to the climate and biodiversity crises, with a plenary convening leaders from business, international organisations, academia and indigenous representatives to discuss how to transform the current growth and development models to better steward the global commons and serve humanity. The plenary stressed the inter-dependence of net-zero and nature positive approaches: climate change is one of the five key drivers of biodiversity loss, while land-use change, principally agricultural commodity-driven deforestation, contributes 12–20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to tackle climate change cannot therefore not succeed without safeguarding nature. It is estimated that 37% of the emissions reductions required by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2 degrees Celsius will come from Nature-Based Solutions.

With global agreement that climate, biodiversity, surface water and groundwater are all components of the Earth's vital systems, standard-setters are increasingly looking to align efforts across land, climate and nature targets. A session on Nature Standards highlighted how investor pressure, regulatory requirements and consumer preferences are leading companies to establish nature-positive commitments alongside their net zero goals. In this context, leaders in Davos recognised that nature loss presents significant financial risk to business and can therefore no longer be treated as a corporate social responsibility issue.

The Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) released the names of the 320 early adopters — including companies, financial institution, banks and insurers - who will be using its framework to report on their use of, and impacts on, nature. Discussions also showcased nature positive transition pathways that can help companies identify their key impacts and dependencies on nature and identify the priority actions to implement. And the Forum launched a new CEO Action Group for Nature to foster collective action to implement nature-positive strategies.

The question of financing for nature was high on the agenda with a spotlight on how to mainstream the valuation of natural capital, which is critical at a time when the stock of natural capital has fallen by 40% in just 30 years, according to the Dasgupta Review. Other instruments were also discussed that have the potential to unlock additional resources for nature, with a spotlight on biodiversity credits — where the Forum has convened a frontrunners coalition of leading businesses and investors and released guidance to help catalyse this nascent market with high integrity.

In the forests space, a special issue briefing with Jane Goodall on Forests as a Climate and Livelihood Solution featured new scientific research stating that forests have the potential to capture 226 Gigatonnes of carbon in areas where they would naturally exist. This forest potential, however, can only be achieved alongside emissions cuts, and requires the protection of existing forests along with the restoration of fragmented landscape through community-driven approaches. The World Economic Forum's 1t.org initiative announced that over 100 companies had made commitments to conserve and restore over 12 billion trees globally.

Davos also provided an opportunity to showcase a new generation of ecopreneurs who are putting conservation and restoration at the heart of their business models, with the launch of the cohort of Top Innovators working on restoration at scale, and discussions around how to scale and mainstream such solutions across freshwater, forest and ocean biomes.

Overall, the Annual Meeting was witness to a growing awareness among business decision-makers of corporate dependency on nature and the ecosystem services that underpin our global economy. In the words of one of the youth leaders present in Davos, Xiye Bastida, Founder of the Re-Earth Initiative: "The market and people have forgotten where wealth actually comes from. Wealth comes from extracting resources from Mother Earth. And if those resources are extracted endlessly, we will have no economy, no people, no community." As this becomes increasingly recognised, the development of a nature strategy will soon become crucial for a company's license to operate.

（Source : World Economic Forum）