The economic case for protecting biodiversity
November 2025
# COP30 and PRI in Person will bring investors and world leaders together in Brazil in November 2025 to consider how biodiversity can create long-term value
At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, biodiversity will no longer be a side issue – it will define the agenda for the planet’s environmental and economic future. COP30’s focus on biodiversity reflects a deeper global reorientation. Nature is now seen as a form of capital – an asset underpinning economic and financial stability.
COP30’s setting, in the most biodiverse region of the world’s most biodiverse country, makes it a unique opportunity to unite the interconnected crises of climate change, nature loss, and social inequality on the global agenda. What was once framed as conservation is now recognized as hard economics.
# Counting the cost of ecosystem decline
Businesses increasingly consider biodiversity loss not just a reputational issue, but a material risk.
According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of global GDP – around USD 44 trillion – depends on nature and its services. The biggest economies are also the most exposed: USD 2.7 trillion of China’s GDP, USD 2.4 trillion in the EU, and USD 2.1 trillion in the United States come from nature-dependent sectors such as agriculture, construction, and food and beverages. Zooming in on a single ecosystem service – pollination – illustrates the scale of dependence: Around 20,000 species of wild bees, alongside countless other pollinators from beetles to bats, underpin global crop production worth as much as USD 577 billion a year.
“55% of global GDP depends on high-functioning Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services.” – Swiss Re Group
The business case for biodiversity management is undeniable. EY estimates that one in five companies could face material risks as ecosystems degrade – either because they depend on natural systems like water, soil, and pollination, or because their own activities damage ecosystems and attract growing legal and reputational risk.
Regulatory and investor pressures are amplifying these risks. Governments are tightening environmental laws, while investors are demanding evidence of nature-positive strategies, using frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment organization meeting ahead of COP30 in Sao Paulo put biodiversity at the center of their first day of discussions. This year’s PRI in Person event includes discussion of how protecting biodiversity can reduce environmental and financial risks, and how the financial industry can help close the USD 700 billion-per-year biodiversity finance gap for the purpose of long-term value creation.
On the flip side, growing pressure to address biodiversity risk may well be fueling a rise in greenwashing. RepRisk’s 2025 greenwashing and biodiversity report finds that the share of companies linked to both biodiversity and greenwashing risks has doubled since 2021, suggesting that misleading communications are distorting risk perception, with potential impacts on capital flows. Failing to meaningfully address biodiversity risk may increasingly result in higher compliance costs, reduced access to capital, and the erosion of stakeholder trust.
# Nature as economic infrastructure
Regulators, central banks, and multilateral institutions are beginning to treat biodiversity risk with the same urgency as climate risk. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the launch of the TNFD are signs of convergence toward a shared language for valuing nature in economic terms.
Still, global progress remains uneven. Nations are adopting biodiversity disclosure standards, offset schemes, and “nature-positive” policies at differing speeds – creating a fragmented regulatory landscape. This disjointed framework complicates sustainability efforts for multinational investors and asset managers, who must balance varying definitions, timelines, and reporting expectations while still delivering competitive performance.
COP30 is one step towards recognition of biodiversity’s foundational place in a sustainable global economy. Decisions taken at Belém by governments, businesses, and investors alike will determine not only the success of COP30, but the resilience of the global economy for decades to come.
Projects pivoting on biodiversity risk
Case studies from three continents demonstrate how biodiversity risk has become a defining factor in project development. In each case, risk mitigation was a prerequisite for project approval. Managing biodiversity impacts is now a material consideration for investors and companies alike, shaping project viability and long-term value.
◾ Fenchurch Street Station Redevelopment (London, UK): Designed to meet the UK’s mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) standards through green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and urban habitat creation.
◾ Port of Rotterdam Expansion (Rotterdam, the Netherlands): Approval was contingent on habitat compensation, artificial reef construction, and EU-mandated environmental monitoring.
◾ Monsoon Wind Power Project (Lao PDR): Implemented a Biodiversity Action Plan aligned with international “no net loss” standards, including habitat restoration, continuous ecological monitoring, and offsets for critical habitats.
◾ Camisea Gas Project (Peru): Located in an Amazonian biodiversity hotspot, the project minimized impacts through revegetation, erosion control, biodiversity monitoring, and by limiting infrastructure using air and river transport.
◾ Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project (Vancouver, Canada): Required extensive biodiversity safeguards, including wetland compensation, fish habitat offsets, mitigation for barn owls, and noise reduction to protect orca habitats.
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