Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity
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Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity February 2021 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity Chairman’s message The scientific community has long warned us about biodiversity loss and recent events have in fact confirmed the associated risks. All stakeholders are now called on to factor nature into their ecological transition. A number of companies have been doing so for a long time, and even those who have a more indirect rela- tionship with nature are now taking steps in that direction. Albeit necessary, these initial steps are not sufficient to address the magnitude of the challenge. We now urgently need to scale up such actions, which presents two challenges. The first is the lack of a universal measurement tool that would make it relatively straightforward to factor the issue into economic decision- making, such as ‘tonne of carbon equivalent’ for climate issues. Accordingly, developing multiple biodiversity indicators is widely seen as indispen- sable and intrinsic to addressing biodiversity issues. The second challenge is even more vital. Since the Industrial Revolution, economic development has leveraged standardisation and mass production to reduce costs. Safeguarding biodiversity, however, requires sustaining highly diverse and variable local conditions, which involves re-engineering industrial processes in order to adapt them to local contexts. How do we reconcile such diametrically differing approaches, and perhaps even turn natural diversity into a development asset? Moreover, how do we achieve this at the required scale and pace? This publication provides examples to illustrate how EpE members in all sectors factor in these challenges and implement replicable solutions. Aware of the urgent need to stop the current deterioration, we hope this paper will help companies achieve the necessary scale-up and foster a broader discussion with other stakeholders on the practices we must develop together. Jean-Laurent Bonnafé Chairman of EpE CEO of BNP Paribas 3 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity CONTENTS Introduction 7 CHAPTER 1 - Reducing pressures 12 1 Limiting land use and changes in use 13 ICADE 14 SNCF 15 ENGIE 16 2 Reducing overexploitation of resources 17 KERING 17 3 Factoring the consequences of climate change into biodiversity 18 SIACI SAINT HONORÉ 19 4 Dealing with pollution 19 SUEZ 20 5 Curtailing the spread of invasive species 20 CIMENTS CALCIA 21 CHAPTER 2 - Recreating biodiversity-friendly spaces and conditions 23 1 Keeping wilderness wild 23 1.1. ❱ Protecting natural spaces 23 HERMÈS 24 1.2. ❱ Restoring habitats for endangered species 25 LVMH 25 2 Managing productive areas sustainably by improving their biodiversity 26 2.1. ❱ Developing biodiversity through ecological engineering 26 VINCI 26 SPYGEN 27 2.2. ❱ Adopting environment-friendly site management 27 VEOLIA 28 ENGIE 29 2.3. ❱ Initiating new agricultural practices 29 BASF France 30 Groupe InVivo 31 PAPREC Agro 32 Groupe InVivo 33 2.4. ❱ Sustainably managing forests from a biodiversity standpoint 34 Société Forestière 34 MICHELIN 35 4 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity 3 Renaturing artificialised areas and cultivating heterogeneity 36 SÉCHÉ ENVIRONNEMENT 36 3.1. ❱ Reintroducing nature into towns 37 RTE 37 3.2. ❱ Redesigning quarries and industrial sites as sustainable natural spaces 38 SAINT-GOBAIN 38 IMERYS 39 LAFARGEHOLCIM France 40 3.3. ❱ Planning green corridors for linear and non-linear infrastructure 40 SNCF 41 RTE 42 EDF 43 4 Experimenting with Nature-based Solutions 43 IUCN French Committee 44 (International Union for Conservation of Nature) CDC Biodiversité 45 SUEZ 46 CHAPTER 3 - Factoring nature into business decisions 48 Luc Abbadie 49 1 Factoring biodiversity into corporate strategy and relying on the science 51 Le Printemps des Terres 51 TOTAL 52 2 Holding discussions with stakeholders 52 CIMENTS CALCIA 53 3 Assessing and evaluating biodiversity - a multi-faceted issue 53 TOTAL 54 Caisse des Dépôts 56 4 Promoting biodiversity in decisions along value chains 56 4.1. ❱ Ecodesigning products for a positive footprint 56 SOLVAY 57 L’ORÉAL 58 4.2. ❱ Purchasing and supply management 58 KERING 59 4.3. ❱ Biodiversity and funding 59 SÉCHÉ ENVIRONNEMENT 60 BNP PARIBAS 60 4.4. ❱ Mobilising players from within the sphere of influence of the company 61 STORENGY 61 4.5. ❱ Mobilising customers 62 MARSH 62 NATIXIS 63 5 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity 5 Avoiding, reducing and ultimately offsetting the impacts of business 63 NATIXIS 64 L’ORÉAL 65 6 The example of biomimicry 65 RTE 66 7 Incorporating biodiversity into dialogue with policy makers 66 BUSINESS FOR NATURE 67 MICHELIN 68 8 Supporting changes in employee behaviour 68 CNES 69 DELOITTE 70 BAYER France 71 PRIMAGAZ 71 9 Developing partnerships with scientists and environmental NGOs 72 9.1. ❱ Scientific partnerships 72 BNP PARIBAS 73 IMERYS 73 EDF 74 VINCI 75 LVMH 76 9.2. ❱ Other partnerships 77 AIR FRANCE / Groupe ADP 77 AXA 78 CONCLUSION 79 Building alliances to scale up solutions 79 Étienne Maclouf 79 BIBLIOGRAPHY 82 6 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity INTRODUCTION "Biodiversity is essential to human existence and forms the backbone of our economy. If it were to disappear, so would bu- siness. This is now clear and reasonably-minded businesses cannot continue with a system that is disconnected from biodiversity- related issues." Gilles Bœuf, December 2018 Strong societal expectations about nature conserva- Moreover, since the issues are raised by environmental tion, international events for raising awareness among associations and public authorities rather than cus- leaders in 2020-2021 (UNGA Nature Summit, World tomers or shareholders, businesses tend to react to Conservation Congress, COP15 of the Convention on them somewhat defensively. There are technical reasons Biological Diversity, etc.), animal-based epidemics too. In the absence of a measurement tool equivalent to linked to growing human pressure on natural ecosys- a tonne of CO2, the factoring in of biodiversity issues by tems1, and indisputable scientific findings on the collapse business is more complex than that of climate issues. of biodiversity2 have led businesses over the last few years to include nature more decisively in their corporate Yet many pilot achievements exist, as illustrated by the social responsibility (CSR) strategies. work of the EpE Biodiversity Commission, sustainable development reports, and other resources4.The new Corporates have also become aware of the conse- challenge facing companies is how to scale up their quences and risks to them of potentially serious or actions and transform them into general practices or systemic biodiversity erosion, be they unrelated or even business strategies, given that they originate in, indirectly related to their own ecological footprint. In this and owe their success to, favourable local contexts, respect, the Covid-19 epidemic is the first overwhel- special circumstances or to the work of highly com- ming, global proof that nature-related risks3 are real. mitted teams. Despite strong signals and genuine growing awareness, While some sectors (quarries, linear infrastructure, demonstrated by the fact that biodiversity policy is now industrial sites) have proven expertise in dealing with presented to the Board of Directors and is even dis- long-standing regulatory constraints, others find them- cussed in general meetings, biodiversity is so far treated selves struggling with new and far-reaching issues, as a mere CSR issue, unlike climate issues, which have such as sustainable use of forests, ecological ecosystem become a driving force of corporate strategy at many management, wildlife conservation, and funding for companies. scientific research. As living beings cannot be managed like tonnes of carbon, biodiversity issues are multi-faceted The causes for this are multiple, partly because biodi- and local. versity issues are complex to address, extremely varied across different territories, and difficult to factor into an This is why, after working on biodiversity measurement economic model. They still seem remote to many com- tools and then the management of businesses’ impacts panies, in the same way as most of us are hard pressed on their value chain5, since 2017 EpE members have to link our daily actions to biodiversity erosion. been actively sharing and assessing their actions to "scale up corporate biodiversity solutions". 1 https://www.fondationbiodiversite.fr/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Mobilisation-FRB-Covid-19-15-05-2020-1.pdf 2 IPBES assessment. 3 http://www.epe-asso.org/construire-une-relance-durable-juillet-2020/ 4 See in particular https://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/business/index_en.htm and http://entreprises-biodiversite.fr/ 5 http://www.epe-asso.org/en/companies-and-biodiversity-managing-impacts-on-the-value-chain-march-2017/ 7 Upscaling Corporate Solutions for Biodiversity One of the first products of this approach was the crea- Our compilation of examples is designed to focus tion and launch in 2018 of the multi-stakeholder al- thinking on material conditions allowing actions, liance act4nature6. It was born from one observation: once tested by economic stakeholders to promote the biodiversity is more comprehensively and actively biodiversity protection and restoration rolled out on when the chief executive is personally involved and com- a large enough scale to form an effective solution. mitted to it, thus conferring legitimacy on actions at every The word ‘solution’ is taken