By Marina Grossi and Fernanda Gimenes*
It is only a matter of time. New legislation will soon be in force to regulate and charge for the use of natural resources. The impact of the use of biodiversity and ecosystems will be economically accounted for and will become part of the business strategy of companies that have the ambition to remain in the market in the long term.
The inclusion of this new variable in the business world represents yet another challenge in the process of building sustainable development. In the report released by the UN in 2010, “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB), experts estimated the negative impacts of three thousand companies on natural resources at around US$1.4 trillion in 2008. In other words, this astronomical figure was the loss caused to global society that year due to the damage caused to environmental assets – such as loss of biodiversity, water and air contamination, climate regulation, among others.
To meet this new demand, that is, to train companies to assess the impact and dependence of their activities on the environment, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is coordinating the Business Partnership for Ecosystem Services (PESE) project, together with the Center for Sustainability Studies at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and the WRI (World Resources Institute). The initiative also has the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Seven major companies are participating in this pilot project: Anglo American, Danone, Grupo André Maggi, Natura, Pepsico, Votorantim and Wal-Mart. The methodology chosen was the ESR (Corporate Ecosystem Services Review), developed by WRI in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Meridian Institute.
Mondi, the largest European pulp and paper company, has used the methodology on three of its plantations in South Africa and has achieved significant results. The application of the tool has indicated strategies for the company to increase access to fresh water, improving the quality of regional watersheds and reducing the risk of water stress. In addition, Mondi has strengthened its relationships with the local community and reduced operating costs. The positive results in both the economic, social and environmental dimensions of Mondi’s experience in South Africa may explain why there is a growing understanding among business leaders that integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services generates benefits across the corporate value chain.
Another good example comes from India. Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agribusiness companies, applied ESR to small farms in that country. The tool helped the company identify risks to its customers due to the degradation of the local ecosystem, such as the decline in the ability of natural predators to contain pest outbreaks and reduced soil fertility.
These findings were confirmed by a survey conducted by CEBDS with 22 large associated companies from ten different sectors of the economy – energy, services, mining, pulp and paper, oil and gas, multi-sector holding, agriculture, chemicals, equipment and cosmetics. Basically, there are four factors that lead the Brazilian companies surveyed to incorporate ecosystem services into their management systems: business opportunities (90%); business dependence on ecosystem services (70%); image improvement (65%); and risk reduction (65%).
We have no doubt that the legacy of the PESE pilot project will be of great relevance to the Brazilian business sector and to the country itself. Brazil, with so many biodiversity hotspots and the largest tropical forest in the world, has ample possibilities to find the path to a development model that is both profitable and sustainable.
*Marina Grossi is president of CEBDS and Fernanda Gimenes is Coordinator of the Thematic Chamber of Biodiversity and Biotechnology
