What is Business for Biodiversity?
The purpose of the platform is to encourage and incentivise Irish businesses to assess their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity
Established in 2022, Business for Biodiversity Ireland is driving the transition to a nature positive Irish economy, where activities enhance natural systems in addition to minimising impact, by harnessing the energy and innovation capacity of Irish businesses.
Business for Biodiversity Ireland is a biodiversity initiative without political affiliation or agenda other than to contribute to the realisation of Ireland’s Vision for Biodiversity: By 2050, biodiversity in Ireland is valued, conserved, restored and sustainably used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.
Platform Stakeholders
The multi-stakeholder platform is being established using seed funding, provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and, over a three-year period. The National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) and Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) are supporting development of the Platform.
Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) is the lead organisation on this project and the authority on natural capital in Ireland. NCI has had demonstrated success leading major projects that advance the business and biodiversity conversation in Ireland. They are a not-for-profit organisation, comprising 900 members from academia and the public, private and NGO sectors committed to promoting the natural capital approach in Ireland. Their well-established connections with government agencies, biodiversity scientists and the business community leave NCI well placed to develop and support the growth of the Business and Biodiversity Platform and deliver measurable biodiversity actions for a range of business types.
Lucy Gaffney
The platform is led by Lucy Gaffney, an Irish entrepreneur and scientist who has vast experience both as an SME founder and within corporate senior management. Lucy has a passion for the natural world and her experience as a business leader working within the biosciences industry positions her well to help nurture the connection between business and biodiversity in Ireland.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have jointly funded the development of a national business and biodiversity platform to promote and support measurable, certifiable actions on biodiversity within the private sector.
Business for Biodiversity Ireland aims to
- Help businesses assess their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity and incorporate this information into operational and strategic plans to ensure business continuity
- Advocate for policy reforms that create the right enabling environment for businesses to implement nature-positive strategies
- Support businesses to better understand risks and opportunities linked to the loss of nature for their businesses
- Identify what concrete actions businesses can put in place to mitigate these risks, maximise these opportunities and improve their decision making
- Identify how businesses can improve their positive impacts and reduce their negative impacts on nature
- Support businesses strengthening their business models and resilience to future shocks and better understand the costs and benefits associated with these activities
- Encourage business to be transparent, disclose and report on biodiversity-related activities, whilst minimising the risk of greenwashing.
Partner with us
We want to work with businesses that have an openness and willingness to change. We need businesses to commit to working towards becoming more nature positive, to share ideas and to disclose their baselines, targets, progress and actions. We want high-level buy-in and mainstreaming of biodiversity concepts throughout the business. We want the business to devote time to trying out frameworks and contributing to the development of a sectoral best practice approach.
