Trillion-dollar group calls on government to take action to stop loss of natural resources

Authors: Simon Jessop and Jake Spring

LONDON/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – More than 100 companies including Unilever, L’Occitane and Iberdrola have called on governments to introduce tougher policies to meet a United Nations goal of halting the loss of natural resources by the end of the decade.

With more than a million species at risk of extinction, the world agreed a landmark agreement in 2022 to protect biodiversity, including a commitment to protect 30% of the world’s natural ecosystems.

Countries will meet at the COP16 Biodiversity Summit in Colombia in October to work out the details of implementing the commitment.

In a letter made exclusively to Reuters ahead of the talks, 132 companies with combined revenues of $1.1 trillion demanded stronger action.

Other companies that have signed the call for action – covering reforms to subsidies, water use and farming practices – include mining company Teck Resources, food group Danone, energy company RWE and cement maker Holcim.

Humans are decimating wildlife by destroying native ecosystems, polluting nature and causing climate change.

Whatever the financial costs of mitigation, some supporters of the letter argue that the cost would be much greater in species losses, as food production depends on declining pollinators and disrupted water systems that rely on fragile ecosystems, among other things.

“If we don’t focus on nature, if we don’t focus on biodiversity, the business we run could cease to exist in the years to come,” said Rishi Kalra, executive director and group chief financial officer of Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), one of the world’s largest suppliers of food and beverage ingredients.

For example, Kalra said in an interview, the company uses bees to pollinate its almond plantations.

“Food may not be available. People may not have the means to live if nature is not protected.”

For example, deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has led to reduced rainfall and changed weather patterns in key agricultural areas that provide most of the world’s soy and beef production.

“Without nature, without water, human life would be impossible, it would not even be possible to flourish, but simply to exist,” said Laurent Freixe, CEO of Nestle Latin America.

Because environmentally friendly strategies can increase costs in the short term, some companies are reluctant to take action unless governments set market-wide rules or offer the incentives needed to pressure action.

As the letter, coordinated by advisory group Business For Nature, which developed the policy recommendations, says, voluntary corporate action alone will not be enough.

Governments, the letter said, must ensure that businesses and financial entities protect and restore the natural environment.

Further action must include ensuring sustainable use of resources, valuing and integrating nature into decision-making and information disclosure, and stronger global agreements to address the loss of nature’s resources.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop in London and Jake Spring in Sao Paulo; editing by Barbara Lewis)