Do the world's largest companies integrate natural capital risks and opportunities into their operations in a meaningful way?

Abstract

The destruction of natural capital is creating significant risks to the economy and society as a whole. Companies are fundamental to dealing with these risks as they impact and depend on nature, suggesting that it should be a material issue for them. This paper uses content analysis to assess how the world's largest companies disclose these impacts and dependencies on nature. It assesses whether companies consider these issues material to their operations and the degree to which they take actions to address them. It finds that few companies are taking comprehensive action to assess or address their impacts and dependencies, suggesting most do not consider it a material issue, treating it more as a form of impression management. The paper builds a theoretical nature positive journey and concludes that most companies have not yet reached the starting point.