BIODIVERSITY
& BUSINESS
Turning business into a force for nature
For too long, the private sector’s role in conserving nature has been sidelined. Yet your business has the power to help shape a nature-resilient future. Every company depends on nature and every company affects it. At a time when biodiversity loss and the decline of natural systems threaten societies and economies, we help you turn nature-related risk, responsibility and ambition into credible outcomes for nature and people.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
WHY BIODIVERSITY &
BUSINESS MATTERS
Nature underpins every economy
It provides clean water, healthy soils, pollination, climate regulation, flood protection and the natural resources your business needs to operate. Yet nature often remains peripheral to business strategy.
This creates real business risk. As natural systems decline, your business can face operational disruption, volatile supply chains, resource insecurity and growing expectations from regulators, financiers and the public. Understanding how your business interacts with nature, and where those interactions create material risk, is increasingly essential.
There is also significant opportunity. When you understand and act on your impacts and dependencies on nature, you can manage risk, strengthen resilience, build stakeholder trust and create lasting value. Your investment and stewardship can also make a significant contribution to protecting and restoring nature. For executives and trustees, addressing nature-related risks is increasingly part of the duty of care that comes with responsible leadership.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
THE CHALLENGES
WE ADDRESS
We help you navigate a fast-changing
nature landscape by:
Building knowledge
and capability across your business.
Identifying your
nature-related
impacts
dependencies, risks and opportunities.
Measuring impacts
and dependencies against recognised standards so you can use credible data to guide decisions and meet international disclosure
Integrating nature
into your strategy, governance and operations.
Turning
commitments
into action
on the ground and measuring progress.
Responding to
growing
expectations
around managing and disclosing nature-related risk.
Building
partnerships
that create lasting value for your business and nature.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
HOW WE CREATE
CHANGE
We help you understand your
relationship with nature
Your business interacts with nature through the resources you use, the places where you operate and your wider value chain. We help you understand where your business depends on nature, where it has an impact and what this means for your risks, resilience and opportunities.
We turn data into action
Evidence matters when it changes decisions. We help you integrate nature into your strategy, systems and operations, turning risk and ambition into practical plans, measurable targets and action within your business and on the ground.
We build knowledge and capacity
You may understand that nature matters to your business but lack the skills, knowledge or systems needed to respond effectively. We build capability across your organisation, from strategic guidance for executives and boards to practical tools and technical expertise for the teams responsible for implementation.
We build partnerships
for lasting impact
No organisation can address nature loss alone. We work with you, alongside investors, government, communities and other partners, to develop solutions that respond to business needs while delivering effective conservation action. We combine our understanding of the business case for nature with decades of conservation experience to turn your ambition into measurable outcomes for nature and people.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
CONSERVATION
IN ACTION
One-on-one partnerships
We work directly with you at every stage of your nature journey, whether you are taking your first steps or working towards sector leadership. We develop programmes around your operations, risks, priorities and goals.
Our multidisciplinary teams combine scientific expertise, practical conservation experience and business insight. We can support you from initial capacity-building and analysis through to strategy, implementation, monitoring and reporting.
Shaping the conditions for business
action
The policy, regulatory and market environment influences how your business responds to nature-related risks and opportunities. We work with government, industry and international partners to strengthen the laws, policies, standards, guidance and disclosure frameworks that support credible business action.
As South Africa’s representative to the Global Partnership for Business and Biodiversity, convened under the Convention on Biological Diversity, we contribute to national, African and international initiatives that strengthen the relationship between business and nature.
Advancing African science and
practical methods
Much of the guidance shaping business action on nature has been developed for contexts outside Africa. We help close this gap by grounding methods in African species, landscapes and operating realities, and translating complex science into practical approaches you can apply with confidence.
Drawing on expertise from across the EWT, we develop, adapt and test the tools, metrics and best practices you need to take credible, effective action for nature.
Enabling landscape-scale action
Nature does not follow property boundaries, so lasting conservation often requires action beyond an individual operation.
We connect your business with government, communities, landowners and other organisations working within shared landscapes, creating opportunities to align priorities and address conservation challenges together.
By coordinating action across landscapes and building long-term partnerships, we help turn individual company commitments into conservation outcomes at a much greater scale.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
WHERE WE WORK
We support businesses across Africa,
including organisations operating in
forestry, mining, financial services,
retail, energy, infrastructure,
agriculture and property
Whatever your sector, we help you understand how your business interacts with nature and integrate that knowledge into strategy, operations, ESG performance and long-term planning. We combine conservation expertise with business insight to help you reduce impacts, manage nature-related risks and achieve measurable outcomes for nature.
BIODIVERSITY & BUSINESS
GET INVOLVED
Your business has an important
role to play in protecting nature
Taking responsibility for your impacts and managing nature-related risks are increasingly part of the duty of care that comes with responsible business leadership.
We work with sustainability and ESG teams, boards and executives, investors and shareholders, as well as industry associations, regulators and standard-setters that influence business decisions.
Whether you want to understand and improve your biodiversity performance, deliver measurable outcomes for nature, invest in conservation across shared landscapes, or strengthen your nature-related governance and disclosure, we can provide the scientific expertise, conservation experience and practical guidance to turn your commitments into action.