Five international goals for biodiversity, which encompass features of multiple Multilateral Environmental Agreements (such as the Convention on Biological Diversity) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), have been established to direct governments and inspire wider society to take steps towards the conservation of biodiversity. The goals represent clear statements about what aspects of biodiversity require immediate action to reverse the ongoing global decline of biodiversity and frame biodiversity not solely as a conservation issue by embedding biodiversity across multiple areas of social and economic development.

There is a clear role for the private sector to contribute to the international biodiversity goals, however these goals are perceived by many businesses as having been written by Governments for Governments and fail to resonate with and inspire action from the private sector. To address this issue, we:

Appreciating that the SDGs have captured the attention of the private sector, we mapped the SDGs to the five international biodiversity goals to demonstrate the multiple crossovers. We then present a translation of the international biodiversity goals into ‘corporate biodiversity goals’, using language that aims to resonate with businesses and provide a comprehensive list of possible business actions for biodiversity in line with the corporate biodiversity goals.

We use fourteen case studies to illustrate these actions and translate them across different business sectors in relation to varying scales, locations, and forms of biodiversity. These cases illustrate a range of reasons why businesses are driven to undertake action that is beneficial to biodiversity, such as compliance with environmental regulation, operational, reputational and financial incentives; and highlight the co-benefits that biodiversity actions can deliver for the environment, society, and businesses themselves.

The ultimate aim of this work is to help the international biodiversity goals become significantly more visible and relevant to everyday business activities. This report is aimed at businesses who are already undertaking actions for biodiversity, helping make the links between their actions and international policy clearer; and for businesses commencing their journey in exploring relevant actions that they could undertake to address their impacts and dependencies on nature and contribute to the international biodiversity goals.