How Asian businesses are seizing the tools for nature-positive action

In the second part of our focus on Asian businesses, we look at the support that is available to help companies put nature at the heart of their decision-making and develop their nature strategies and plans, as well as how they are using innovation and creative thinking to boost their contributions to a nature-positive economy. 

One of the most encouraging statistics to come out of a recent survey of Asian businesses by It’s Now for Nature, was that 75% of the companies polled were keen to take part in tailor-made programs, as a way of better understanding their complex relationship with nature. 

Many are now tapping into a wealth of national and international support, including the It’s Now for Nature Accelerator, designed to help companies take a systematic approach to nature action, with tailor-made actions based on the maturity of the business. 

Last year, BCSD Taiwan launched the Taiwan Nature Positive Initiative (TNPI) to help companies start to take effective action on nature. While several Taiwanese businesses,  from the ICT, finance, telecommunications and real estate sectors, are already actively working with nature, many others are unsure where to start, explains BCSD senior manager Kenny Chang. 

The TNPI includes public forums and workshops designed to help businesses build up their knowledge around nature, share experiences and learn from their peers. “Our aim is to help Taiwanese companies become more familiar with the idea of being nature-positive and how they can take appropriate actions to support this,” says Chang. 

Future plans include a pilot program focused on establishing science-based targets for nature, and plans for an accelerator program to help companies take a systemic approach to nature action.  

In Indonesia, as with many Asian countries, awareness raising remains a priority, says Indah Budiani, executive director at the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD). “There is still a lack of understanding about the impact and dependency of businesses on nature and biodiversity,” she says, “with some companies still seeing action on nature as a cost rather than an imperative.” 

To help address this, IBCSD along with its knowledge partner, Capitals Coalition, has introduced a training program on natural capital valuation. Fifteen participants from nine institutions, both companies and NGOs, completed the training and improved their capacity to understand, measure, and utilize natural capital assessments to support better business decision-making.  

The Indonesian government has also stepped in to hold coaching sessions for the private sector around the Indonesia Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (IBSAP). These have developed into an important two-way flow of information, says Budiani, creating a strong dialogue between government and the private sector. “It gives both sides confidence,” she says, “and shows government what a strong partner the private sector can be in achieving the biodiversity targets.”   

“It means that governments have a better understanding about the challenges that businesses are facing, which can help them create a supportive and enabling environment,” she explains. And at the same time: “by having clear targets, actions and indicators, businesses can see how they can contribute towards the implementation of national biodiversity targets.” 

Budiani hopes that the government will boost this collaboration by offering tax incentives for businesses to become more nature positive, and at the same time look to simplify the process for accessing green finance. Currently, she says, businesses tend to focus on traditional financing routes which are much easier to access than sustainability-related funding. 

Supported by Business for Nature, IBCSD is also developing a Business and Biodiversity Action Plan in collaboration with the private sector and the government to advance the implementation of the IBSAP business targets. 

As national regulations and disclosure requirements increase, integrating nature into business strategy is becoming crucial for compliance, and future readiness. In Japan, explains Yuka Oshima, deputy secretary general at the Keidanren Nature Conservation Council, companies look to the government to promote strong laws, policy frameworks and strategies that support positive action.  

Businesses understand compliance, she explains, but they are also starting to see that regulations bring opportunities too, and new ways to reduce business risk. 

“Reputational capital is very important, and the idea that companies can gain a social licence to operate, particularly in local communities, through their nature-positive actions, is a very strong one,” she says.  

Local environmental improvement projects, and action on urban green space, for instance, are very important to Japanese businesses, she says, with legislation in place such as the Urban Green Space Act and the Act on Promoting Activities to Enhance Regional Biodiversity.  

For example, Dai-ichi Life Insurance has helped to improve residents’ access to green spaces by supporting urban greening activity in more than 330 different areas.  

Legislators can help accelerate business action on nature by introducing and enforcing mandatory regulations,” says Pallavi Kalita, Asia Lead at Business for Nature. “They can also play a key role in supporting the adoption of disclosure frameworks, which may currently be voluntary but are essential for driving transparency and accountability.” 

The Japanese government has committed to establishing a biodiversity assessment and disclosure mechanism by 2030 and is actively encouraging companies to voluntarily disclose through the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework. This proactive push may explain why Japanese businesses are at the forefront of TNFD adoption. 

These include established frameworks such as the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the ACT-D high level business actions on nature, which are all playing a part in helping businesses to systematically identify and report on their dependencies and impacts on nature, and find ways to start collecting and analyzing the data that’s important to them. 

The issue of data and how to collect it, is likely to top the agenda of many of the programs and workshops that are now available on nature strategy. Nature is still a relatively young topic, which makes collecting pertinent, accurate data on new and largely unchartered areas such as a company’s impacts on biodiversity, a tough proposition for many businesses. 

“It’s not straightforward for companies to assess their dependency on nature, or their exposure to nature-related risks and opportunities,” explains Kirsty Law, chief finance officer for sustainability at ofi.  

“Ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and pollination are often not included in traditional financial models and this makes it difficult to place a monetary value on them, and is a complex problem to solve,” she explains.  

As a starting point, she suggests companies should focus on just a handful of KPIs. “Simplify targets and metrics and be totally clear on definitions, the governance and what activities count” she says. “Think about accuracy, too, and what evidence is needed to prove the activity or data.” 

In Taiwan, says Chang, a lack of data is hampering companies as they set out to complete the materiality assessments that are so important for guiding resource allocation in a business, including around nature.  

“Companies need an actionable nature strategy in order to be able to show they are contributing to a nature positive future,” says Chang, “but that requires a set of a consensus-based indicators or metrics which they can measure against.” 

The practical challenges of this measurement gap are reiterated by industry leaders. Yi-Chung Chen, assistant vice president at TCC Group Holdings, acknowledges the complexity: “Navigating data gaps and diverse regulatory environments is challenging.” To overcome this, the TCC Group is pursuing a collaborative approach, stating that “through strategic and collaborative partnerships with universities and experts, we are developing standardized approaches that will accelerate our journey and help us deliver our nature strategy.”

This collaborative effort is seen as key to establishing the robust, standardized metrics necessary for Taiwanese companies to effectively implement and demonstrate their commitment to a nature-positive future. 

BCSD Taiwan is exploring how to provide further support by harnessing tools such as the WBCSD’s Natural Action Portal and the Nature Positive Initiative’s Nature Measurement Protocol, which provide businesses with meaningful, representative metrics to evaluate their impacts on nature, similar to the way in which they can use GHG emissions to measure their climate impact. 

“In Asia, as across other continents, businesses are ramping up their action on nature,” adds Pallavi. “By seizing the opportunities presented by embedding nature into their business, not only are they boosting biodiversity, but their bottom-line and reputation, too.” 

To find out more about It’s Now for Nature and its work in Asia, contact Pallavi Kalita.