The unknown path to business strategies for the elusive nature - The pushing requirements and the inhibiting obstacles

Sammanfattning: Biodiversity is fundamental for human well-being, and we depend on nature’s ecosystem services for our survival. Today, biodiversity loss occurs at an accelerating rate and the number of endangered species is higher than ever. Despite this, biodiversity loss has long been overshadowed by the climate issue. However, the issue of biodiversity is now receiving more attention and new frameworks and policies are coming into force. Nature is also the foundation for economic growth and corporations both depend on and impact biodiversity. The business sector therefore has an essential role in reversing the loss of biodiversity. In this study I have examined what obstacles companies experience when incorporating biodiversity in its business strategies. The study has also provided a compilation of topical biodiversity frameworks and policies. The study has been carried out with a triangulation method including a questionnaire, interviews and compilation of topic frameworks and policies. The result shows that low access to data, lack of measurement methods and difficulties in mapping the value chain are the greatest obstacles experienced. Many companies do not know how they impact biodiversity, making it very difficult for other companies to map their own impact throughout the value chain. Lack of data is not just troubling when trying to map the impact but also when illustrating your actions. Many companies experience issue in performing actions and measure progress and the demand for frameworks with proposals for indicators and actions is great. Simultaneously, upcoming policies contain large requirements. However, there are abilities for these to cooperate with voluntary biodiversity frameworks and together they can enable a successful outcome. The requirements can be a catalyser for the development of new methods for mapping a company’s impact however, in order to reverse biodiversity loss continued research on how to measure and quantify biodiversity is required.