Major volume The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Business and Enterprise published by Earthscan

Earthscan publishes essential tool from TEEB Study to help businesses address their impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity

15 December 2011 – As the business community begins to embrace ecosystems and biodiversity as key components of commercial success, a ground-breaking report from the major study of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) is being published by Earthscan today.
The TEEB study is a project hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and led by Pavan Sukhdev. This new volume entitled ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Business and Enterprise’ provides important evidence of growing corporate concern about biodiversity loss and offers examples of how leading companies are taking action to conserve biodiversity and restore ecosystems as part of their day-to-day business activity.

The volume has been edited by Joshua Bishop, TEEB for Business coordinator, former chief economist at IUCN and recently appointed National Manager for Markets, Sustainability and Business Partnerships at WWF Australia. Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), sees the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity as crucial for the business community to grasp in order to develop strategies for long term business sustainability.

“This volume is a ‘must read’ for the business community. The current economic climate reminds us that business needs to assess all kinds of risks, including environmental ones. The TEEB study provides clear guidance for the private sector to understand and manage the income we derive from ‘Natural Capital’, an asset on which all businesses and economies depend. By understanding the value of these services and the ecosystems that provide them, companies can minimize environmental risks and realize new market opportunities.”

TEEB Study leader, Pavan Sukhdev comments, “It is encouraging to see new initiatives since the launch of the initial TEEB for Business report last year, but clearly to survive in the 21st Century, business can and should do much more to account for their impacts on Nature, both on their own and in partnership with governments and civil society.”

To take forward work, an umbrella grouping, the TEEB Business coalition, has been formed under the leadership of Pavan Sukhdev. Coordinated by ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) together with The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, WWF-UK, the GRI, UNEP and a number of companies, will advance the TEEB for Business work-stream by catalysing research and action on corporate externalities. Among other things this includes implementation and standardisation of measurement and disclosure as well as engagement on public policy reforms. The Coalition has received formal support by the UK government in the recent Natural Environment White Paper.
Prominent examples of recent business action inspired by TEEB, or consistent with its recommendations include:

• In November 2011, the sportlifestyle company PUMA and PPR HOME, the PPR Group’s sustainability initiative published an Environmental Profit and Loss Account (EP&L) which was unprecedented worldwide. The EP&L showed that the environmental impact for the key areas of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), water use, land use, air pollution and waste, generated through the operations and supply chain of PUMA is valued at € 145 (GBP 124) million in 2010. The PPR Group, PUMA’s majority shareholder, announced that this ground breaking economic valuation methodology for a company’s environmental impacts will be implemented across its Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle brands by 2015.

  In a press release issued by the company, Jochen Zeitz, Executive Chairman of PUMA and Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR said “At PPR HOME, we view the PUMA EP&L as an essential tool to help drive PPR’s sustainability development across its Group of brands because analysing a company’s environmental impact through an E P&L and understanding where environmental measures are necessary will not only help conserve the benefits of ecosystem services but also ensure the longevity of our businesses. The results of the PUMA E P&L underpin the urgency for a paradigm shift in the way we all currently do business and I have been pleased to also see that the release of PUMA’s first results has generated widespread interest among governments, corporations, NGOs and academics.“
  The PUMA E P&L and the associated methodology were developed with the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Trucost PLC, using recognised ecological and economic techniques and building on a large volume of work in the fields of environmental and natural resource economics.



• The TEEB for Business report revealed that over 50 per cent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) surveyed in Latin America and 45 per cent in Africa see declines in biodiversity as a challenge to business growth. The Brazilian National Industry Confederation with other partners has responded to this challenge by establishing a TEEB Business Brazil initiative, launched on 31 October 2011.


• In April 2011, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD) launched a Guide to Corporate Ecosystems Valuation. The Guide provides a business-friendly introduction to economic valuation of ecosystem services, illustrated with practical case study examples of how valuation can improve business decisions across a range of industry sectors.


• In October 2011 The GRI and World Conservation Monitoring Centre published a new report on Approach for Reporting on Ecosystem Services: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into an Organization's Performance Disclosure. The report follows on from TEEB for Business and shows how the concepts of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and ecosystem services can be incorporated within the framework of indicators provided by the GRI Guidelines and its industry sector supplements for sustainability reporting.
  On 25 November TEEB Advisory Board member, Sustainability leader and Worldconnector Herman Mulder was appointed Chairman of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s Board of Directors.
  On his appointment as chairman Herman Mulder commented: “We are witnessing a turning point for sustainability reporting, as it moves from an experimental pursuit to a mainstream practice.”
  “One of the lessons of the financial crisis is that we need much better transparency on more risks and opportunities,” added Mulder. “This is a global imperative. Governments, stock exchanges and investors should adopt a report or explain approach to policy, encouraging more organizations to report their performance. Companies should adopt advanced disclosure practices, addressing risks, opportunities, dependencies and impacts in their entire value chain. Moreover, investors should recognize that such disclosure is essential for them too: ‘use or loose’.”


• In November 2010, Unilever implemented the “Unilever Sustainable Living Plan” that aims to enable billions of people to improve their quality of life without increasing environmental impact. The company envisages three significant outcomes by 2020: 100% sustainable sourcing of its agricultural raw materials; the health and well-being of more than one billion people improved; and the environmental impact of Unilever products halved.


• In January 2011, Dow Chemical Company and its foundation announced a new partnership with The Nature Conservancy to strengthen the link between the value of nature's services and business decision-making. Dow and its foundation are devoting US$10 million to the effort, Dow plans to share the results of the partnership and help create tools that other companies can use.


• Sony Corporation recently introduced its "Road to Zero" global environmental plan, based on a long-term goal of achieving zero environmental footprint by 2050. Sony’s targets focus on four broad categories of environmental impact - climate change, resource conservation, control of chemical substances and biodiversity - across all product lifecycle stages, from research and development to recycling. Sony has set mid-term targets to March 2016, at which time new targets for the following 5 years will be set.

Notes:

Information on the combined Global Business of Forests and Global Business of Biodiversity2 Symposium can be found at http://www.globalbusinessofbiodiversity.com/events/
Info on Sony Road to Zero: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr/eco/RoadToZero/

Info on Dow: http://www.dow.com/news/multimedia/media_kits/2011_01_24a/pdfs/dow-tnc_joint_press_release.pdf

Unilver’s Sustainable Living plan: http://www.sustainable-living.unilever.com/

The WBCSD Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation can be found at http://www.wbcsd.org/work-program/ecosystems/cev.aspx

The GRI report is available online at: http://www.globalreporting.org/NR/rdonlyres/487FE6C3-77F2-4D8F-838D-299FF21348F3/6692/ECOSYSTEMSFINAL2992012.pdf

ENDS