Corporate Biodiversity Strategy

What a biodiversity strategy is

A biodiversity strategy is the document that sets out an organisation's, company's or public authority's objectives, measures and commitments for conserving, restoring and enhancing biological diversity across its area of activity. It goes beyond minimum regulatory compliance: it establishes a proactive, measurable action framework for embedding biodiversity into decision-making, land management and the value chain.

In a corporate context, biodiversity strategies are becoming increasingly important due to growing pressure from financiers, investors and regulators, driven by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) and reporting standards such as the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures).

Regulatory framework and international commitments

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at COP15 in December 2022, sets the target of protecting at least 30% of the planet's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 (the 30x30 target), achieving zero net biodiversity loss, and restoring at least 30% of degraded ecosystems. These commitments are being passed down to member states and, increasingly, to companies and project developers worldwide.

In the European Union, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets binding ecological restoration targets, reinforced by the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, which establishes specific obligations for member states to restore degraded habitats. In Spain, the National Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity 2030 develops these commitments at national level.

What it's used for in a corporate context

A well-designed biodiversity strategy allows a company or developer to:

• Identify and quantify its dependency on, and impact on, ecosystem services, as a preliminary step to nature risk management.
• Demonstrate biodiversity commitments to financiers applying TNFD criteria or IFC Performance Standards on biodiversity and natural resources.
• Justify compensatory and biodiversity enhancement measures to authorities in the context of an Environmental Impact Statement.
• Integrate biodiversity into ESG reports and sustainability reports, responding to growing demand for nature-related risk disclosure.
• Improve a project's social acceptance in the local area, especially for renewable energy projects affecting sensitive habitats.

How it is prepared

The process of developing a biodiversity strategy follows these stages:

1. Assessment of dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, identifying the ecosystem services the activity depends on and the habitats and species potentially affected.
2. Nature risk assessment, following reference frameworks such as TNFD or ENCORE (Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks and Exposure).
3. Definition of measurable conservation and restoration targets, aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Framework and EU commitments.
4. Design of the action plan, with specific measures, responsible parties, timelines and monitoring indicators.
5. Integration into the organisation's reporting systems: ESG reports, sustainability reports, project environmental documentation.

Common mistakes

The most common issues we find when reviewing biodiversity strategies are:

• Confusing the biodiversity strategy with the fauna or flora inventory of an Environmental Impact Study, which are distinct documents with different purposes.
• Setting generic objectives without measurable indicators or a baseline against which real progress can be assessed.
• Failing to link the strategy to specific commitments in the environmental decision or to existing compensatory measures, duplicating effort and resources.
• Ignoring the TNFD framework when the document is aimed at international financiers, making it insufficient for their due diligence.

Why choose Ideas Medioambientales

We prepare biodiversity strategies integrated with the rest of a project's or organisation's environmental documentation, with our own team of biologists, environmental scientists and forestry engineers with over 25 years of experience across Spain. We know the territory, the species and the habitats, and we know how to translate that knowledge into verifiable commitments for authorities and financiers.

Tell us about your project or organisation and we'll advise you on the scope of biodiversity strategy you need and how to integrate it with your existing documentation.