Integrating Biodiversity into Corporate Environmental Management with the UBi Biodiversity-Checks

As part of the UBi project, the CSCP together with the Global Nature Fund and the Lake Constance Foundation have developed a fact sheet on Biodiversity-Checks. As such, Biodiversity-Checks serve as a first orientation for companies on how to integrate biodiversity into their environmental and social responsibility management and as a starting point for assessing the business relevance of biodiversity and related opportunities.

Depending on the sector, there are specific risks and opportunities with direct impact on the business. To address the topic in a sector-specific way, the UBi project partners are working together with experts, companies, and business associations to develop Biodiversity-Checks for sectors such as chemicals, food, tourism, do-it-yourself (DIY), and textiles.

Biodiversity checks offer companies many opportunities, including:

• Identifying impacts and dependencies of their business on biodiversity and the other way around (Double Materiality).
• Creating a basis for biodiversity management by offering orientation and a starting point for companies to integrate the topic biodiversity into their operational management
• Taking action to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the German National Strategy on Biodiversity on a range of topics such as conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, sustainable use of resources, and fair sharing of benefits derived from genetic resources
• Conducting risk and opportunity assessment by examining possible negative impacts of individual business areas, supply chains, properties, products or processes
• Becoming integrated into international environmental management systems since the biodiversity checks follows the EMAS III approach and the ISO 14001 standards
• Aligning with global initiatives since the results of the checks can be linked to concepts such as Taskforce on Nature, related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN)
• Increasing company relevance regardless of company size or type considering the checks’ broad applicability

In developing the sector-specific Biodiversity-Checks, the CSCP draws on expertise from various projects with multinational companies in the chemical sector, such as Sustainable Chemicals Management or the Life Cycle Initiative. The sector-specific checks will be available in 2024.

Are you interested in engaging with us to develop Biodiversity-Checks in your specific sector?

Reach out to Alexander Mannweiler!