Biodiversity, 33% of Italian companies already have it in their accounts

The trend is there, although the numbers are still low. Because only 19% of companies have adopted the Esrs (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) required by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive approved at the end of August. In this context, then, 25% of companies currently assess their impact on biodiversity, highlighting the need for greater responsibility, while 48% plan to integrate it into their strategies within the next five years. 33% already include biodiversity in their reporting. That is not all, however, because at least 4,000 companies "will have to undertake a significant transformation process to comply with the directives and improve their ESG performance, especially with regard to protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems".

These are some of the aspects highlighted by the first 'Report on Biodiversity and the Private Sector in Italy' produced by the environmental consultancy Etifor, in collaboration with the University of Padua, created with the support of the Italian Union for Sustainable Palm Oil, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), B Lab Italy, Koinètica and the Forum for Sustainable Finance, and presented during theCop16 underway in Cali, Colombia.

"The evident increase in awareness in Italy and around the world is encouraging, but faster and more widespread action is needed to integrate biodiversity into business strategies and achieve sustainability goals," says Alessandro Leonardi, Etifor's CEO. "Companies that act now will be better positioned to adapt to new regulations and take advantage of emerging market opportunities.

The scenario, reading the report, is far from comforting. And the "rapid deterioration of biodiversity represents one of the most important nature-related challenges globally today". Because 'habitat destruction, pollution and resource exploitation put ecosystems, the economy and well-being at risk in the long term, directly impacting essential natural services provided to humans, such as clean water and air, pollination, soil fertility and climate regulation, as well as the quality and availability of raw materials that underpin medicines, food and energy supplies'.

The study points out that worldwide still 2 billion people use wood fuels for energy production and about 4 billion rely mainly on natural medicines. For Leonardi, "the private sector plays a key role in the loss of biodiversity, since most companies impact, more or less directly and consciously, on habitats and cause pollution, even though they depend, in many cases, on the very ecosystem services provided by nature".