The independent intergovernmental biodiversity advisory body called Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has published its Assessment Report on Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature.
 
Jennifer Ramos, our corporate/finance and biodiversity lawyer, and Zaneta Sedilekova, our biodiversity consultant, summarise points from the report which are relevant for commercial and environmental lawyers in their interview with LexisNexis.
 
They find that the recommendation for stakeholder consultation when valuing nature is relevant for advisors to corporations and directors in considering tools at their disposal to protect ecosystem services on which their business depends, in order to minimise potential loss of profits caused by loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
 
Furthermore, to achieve the transformative change required to tackle the biodiversity crisis, it is crucial that environmental advisors to policymakers and corporations integrate the diverse and multiple values of nature throughout the cycle of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation.
 
Finally, links between business and biodiversity are expected to be further assessed in the upcoming IPBES reports, which should clarify what kind of implications the scientist findings will have on the practice of both corporate and environmental law.

This interview was first published by Lexis®PSL on 5 August 2022 and can be found here.