On March 23, Forética's Nature Business Ambition event marked the end of the first edition of this working group, focused on the integration of nature into business strategies.
Convinced that the time has come for nature, we at Forética launched this initiative in May 2022, with the aim of driving ambition, promoting action and building alliances.
Now, almost a year later, we can say with satisfaction that we have more than fulfilled these three fundamental objectives. We have boosted ambition by showing the commitment of the participating companies, mainly through the publication and the public event held as part of the initiative; we have promoted action, through trend bulletins and private workshops, by communicating to companies the business case for the integration of nature, trends in the field, and the main tools available; Finally, we have strengthened existing alliances, as well as developed new ones, with the main players in the field, including, among others, Business for Nature, SBTN, Capitals Coalition, WBCSD, CSR Europe, the European Commission and, at the national level, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and the Biodiversity Foundation.
During this first year, we have addressed the business case of corporate management of nature, to understand the impacts and dependencies that all companies have on the natural environment, and to make visible the risks and opportunities of this transition, with the overall objective of achieving a 'Nature Positive' planet - in which biodiversity increases year by year - from 2030 onwards.
We have consolidated a working group that has encouraged discussion and participation of companies, which has allowed professionals not only to listen to what other experts say, but also to contribute and share challenges and solutions with other companies. We were able to see how competing companies openly discussed common challenges and tried to come up with ideas to help each other.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the companies (Accenture, Damm, EDP, Engie, Gestamp, Holcim, Leroy Merlin, Naturgy, OHLA and Sacyr) for their involvement throughout the year of work, with a high level of participation that has contributed to a very productive year for all, and which shows the interest of the companies in nature and in continuing to deepen their knowledge. We also thank all the external participants that we have been fortunate to have in the different workshops and events, which have raised the level, highlighting the presence of several CEOs and General Directors, as well as senior public officials, both at European and Spanish level.
In addition to the workshops and the public event, organized by Forética, we have had the opportunity to participate and present the achievements of this initiative in prestigious external forums, such as the SDG Summit of CSR Europe, or the COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Montreal. At the latter United Nations summit, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was approved, an agreement that will guide biodiversity policies over the coming years and which will require companies in the 196 signatory countries to regularly assess and report their risks, impacts and dependencies on biodiversity, both in their operations and in their value chain, starting in 2030. The regulatory developments of the last year dispel any doubts - if there were any - that nature's time has come.
Therefore, after a first contact edition in which we have focused on the business case, we are already preparing the next edition with great enthusiasm, in which we will agree with the leading companies of the initiative a new theme, to address some of the challenges that most concern the private sector in terms of nature.
