The Sustainability Imperative

The case study presented in this Advisor demonstrates the scientific approach to solutions for business biodiversity challenges and highlights how the resulting evidence can be channeled into nature positive management actions.

Rafael Sardá examines the potential of offshore wind farms and the challenges of balancing climate change mitigation with biodiversity protection goals. Significant advances in technology and expanded government support have led to increased development of offshore wind farms. But Sardá cautions that large-scale renewable energy projects should be planned and implemented with biodiversity considerations embedded, so that one environmental goal is not sacrificed for another. He proposes a way to balance protecting marine areas with promoting nature positive strategies.

Paul Dewick and Joseph Sarkis emphasize the important role the circular economy has in protecting biodiversity. They begin by presenting business strategies for circularity and extending these to consider biodiversity. CE business models draw attention to the importance of reducing waste and pollution, reusing and recycling materials, and regenerating natural systems. The models focus on the strategies of narrowing, slowing, closing, and regenerating/restoring and show how circularity can advance biodiversity protection. Dewick and Sarkis provide practice-oriented guidelines for implementing circular strategies and discuss how enabling factors like IT support, stakeholder engagement, and measurement are important for facilitating circular strategies that protect biodiversity.

Simon Pek and Nicholas Poggioli look at how businesses can learn about biodiversity issues and incorporate them into effective strategies through mini-publics. Mini-publics gather a wide range of stakeholders to deliberate and provide recommendations on addressing an issue. Pek and Poggioli describe how mini-publics can be initiated, their key components, and the benefits they offer for business strategy formulation and implementation. They also look at how businesses can implement mini-publics in a responsible manner and ensure a deliberative democratic process.

Anna Heikkinen, Ari Jokinen, and Johanna Kujala explore how nature positive language provides a useful instrument to drive business action on biodiversity issues. They examine how language is critical for developing nature-based stakeholder engagement and illustrate how it can motivate companies to take actions on biodiversity. The authors conclude with descriptions of the benefits nature-based stakeholder engagement can have for businesses, local communities, and the environment.

This issue of Amplify focuses on practical solutions for businesses seeking to address biodiversity loss and regenerate nature. We invited authors to explore two questions. First, how can businesses address current failures to protect biodiversity? Second, what knowledge and resources are necessary to change business activity that impacts the health of ecosystems? The authors seek to answer these questions and help businesses in various industries put solutions in place.

Stefania Pizzirani, Robert Newell, Alesandros Glaros, Saeed Rahman, and Lenore Newman explore vertical farming as a pathway to biodiversity conservation. They provide three guiding principles for how vertical agriculture can conserve biodiversity: (1) diversification in produce, (2) localized, decentralized farming, and (3) integration with other social, economic, and physical systems. The authors then apply these principles in practice across several business models in vertical agriculture. They conclude by describing how management practices, complementary technologies, and policy collaboration are key to successful vertical farm implementation.

Legacy industrial sites ("brownfield sites") can be found across the US. Brownfield site redevelopment is commonplace, especially along the Eastern Seaboard, a stronghold of former industrial sites. Many of these sites have undergone a level of ecological succession during decades of unuse. This, combined with their proximity to major waterways, makes them prime locations for occupation by endemic (local) species. This Advisor provides an overview of brownfield redevelopment through a biodiversity and species-conflict lens.