Toward More Nature-Positive Outcomes: A Review of Corporate Disclosure and Decision Making on Biodiversity

Abstract

Loss of biodiversity and natural degradation are vital issues that have significant impacts on society and economy. Businesses, investors, and regulators have focused on corporate efforts to support biodiversity and nature-positive activities. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the importance of biodiversity for businesses, its materiality, and the roles of mandatory and nonmandatory regulations in corporate environmental reporting and sustainability disclosure frameworks. It also discusses descriptive information on the evolution of sustainability frameworks by comparing the most prominent sustainability frameworks, with a key focus on the materiality approach and biodiversity-related disclosure recommendations. Furthermore, we provide recommendations for more holistic approaches to improve future sustainability frameworks focusing on the impact of biodiversity. Additionally, we demonstrate the necessity for greater focus on the decision-making paradigm. Further research to measure the impact of biodiversity and innovative trends in sustainability reporting is required to better reflect nature-positive outcomes in corporate sector businesses.