The Sustainability Imperative
As organizations struggle to define a strategy that balances purpose and profit, opportunities are increasingly emerging to take the lead in sustainability initiatives. Front-line advances in areas such as net-zero emissions, AI-powered solutions for the underserved, precision agriculture, digital healthcare, and more are delivering business benefits, while simultaneously contributing to the realization of the UN’s 17 SDGs. We provide the expert thinking, debate, and guidance to help your organization reposition and transform in the era of sustainability.
Recently Published
The five articles in this issue, written by thought leaders in their respective arenas, explore the concept of nature positivity and offer a suite of approaches for meaningful business engagement. They attempt to pivot business leaders from “carbon tunnel vision” to a broader view of planetary issues that represent significant risk to business and the world economy.
Alison Shaw and Kacia Tolsma explore how nature can contribute solutions to the climate crisis by supporting community-resilience efforts that not only address climate but also support a plethora of interrelated issues like ecological, cultural, and services values. They introduce nature-based solutions as actions to protect and restore ecosystems that simultaneously benefit people and nature.
Jessica L. Deichmann et al. look at the tension across knowledge areas and highlight items companies should know when engaging with ecologists and biodiversity experts. This article, based on decades of working with private sector companies on some of the most complex nature-based issues, highlights the interdisciplinary nature of ecosystem restoration and species recovery. It offers nine principles to foster positive collaborations, including an acknowledgment that small actions can make big differences and that people are a critical element of any successful conservation collaboration.
Colleen Corrigan talks about the ways in which businesses can act for nature. They can make pledges. They can track policies. They can hire biodiversity experts. They can act in a place-based way to effect change. Corrigan lays out the enabling environment for effective public-private partnerships where trust, reputation, and stakeholder engagement are foundational. She explores various approaches used by global groups and highlights the importance of local and indigenous knowledge to any partnership.
Margot Greenen and Tom Butterworth examine how the nature agenda is trending in global conversations and emerging as an issue equal to climate. The authors know that the details of nature positive can be hard to pin down, so they offer examples of different definitions focused on targets, processes, or concepts.
Eva Zabey and Erin Billman begin the issue by reminding us how nature underpins our collective survival and then highlight the risk to the world’s GDP from continued nature loss. They provide an explanation of the difference between nature and biodiversity and present the high-level definition of nature positive.
This Advisor explores how bridging the divide between circular and degrowth systems can lead to strong sustainability and resilience.
Winning in the complex risk ecology of the maturing EV market will require automakers to survive the flood tide of EV introductions over the next three years and stay alive until the market becomes more predictable.