TY - JOUR
T1 - From impacts to dependencies
T2 - A first global assessment of corporate biodiversity risk exposure and responses
AU - Cojoianu, Theodor
AU - Ascui, Francisco
PY - 2022/5/9
Y1 - 2022/5/9
N2 - There is growing awareness that biodiversity loss poses a significant risk to the global economy, but a lack of clarity on what this means for corporations, and how they are responding. This study provides a first quantitative assessment of biodiversity risk exposure across the world’s largest listed companies, compared with their adoption of biodiversity policies, through analysis of disclosures from a sample of 11,812 companies from 2004-2018. We find that companies have started responding strategically to biodiversity risk, with 29% having adopted a biodiversity policy by 2018. However, around $7.2 trillion of total enterprise value remains exposed to unmanaged biodiversity risk. Companies in sectors with material impacts on biodiversity tend to have high levels of response, but there is poorer responsiveness to material biodiversity dependency risks. A natural-capital-based view (NCBV) of the firm is proposed to theorise how corporations are constrained by both their impacts and dependencies on natural capital.
AB - There is growing awareness that biodiversity loss poses a significant risk to the global economy, but a lack of clarity on what this means for corporations, and how they are responding. This study provides a first quantitative assessment of biodiversity risk exposure across the world’s largest listed companies, compared with their adoption of biodiversity policies, through analysis of disclosures from a sample of 11,812 companies from 2004-2018. We find that companies have started responding strategically to biodiversity risk, with 29% having adopted a biodiversity policy by 2018. However, around $7.2 trillion of total enterprise value remains exposed to unmanaged biodiversity risk. Companies in sectors with material impacts on biodiversity tend to have high levels of response, but there is poorer responsiveness to material biodiversity dependency risks. A natural-capital-based view (NCBV) of the firm is proposed to theorise how corporations are constrained by both their impacts and dependencies on natural capital.
KW - biodiversity
KW - natural capital
KW - impacts
KW - dependencies
KW - risk
KW - materiality
UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836
M3 - Article
JO - Business Strategy and the Environment
JF - Business Strategy and the Environment
SN - 1099-0836
ER -