Guest blog: Bridging the Biodiversity Financing Gap

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Dr Catherine Farrell, Assistant Professor in Business and Nature in Trinity Business School and BFBI’s Business Programme Lead, is co-ordinator of a module for final year business students with learnings on nature, society and economy. The module, the development of which was supported by BFBI, is called The Business of Nature Positive and explores ways for undergraduate students to work with businesses in Ireland to support the global Nature Positive Initiative. We are delighted to share guest articles on a number of associated course topics, beginning with the role of green bonds in sustainable finance.  

In this extract, Ms. Meadbh O’Mahony, Senior Sophister student in Global Business in Trinity Business School, explores why these bonds are insufficient on their own to halt biodiversity decline; while highlighting the important role they must play a nature-positive future: 

 

Bridging the Biodiversity Financing Gap: Why Green Bonds Are Not Enough 

‘The planet’s rich web of life is unravelling, with ecosystems deteriorating at an alarming pace due to human-driven pressures. The UN’s Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) reports that 75% of terrestrial environments and 66% of marine ecosystems have been significantly altered by human actions, driven by deforestation, pollution, climate change and unsustainable resource extraction (Natixis, 2024). 

Graph with pink and green hues

The World Economic Forum estimates that $44 trillion, over half of global GDP, is moderately or highly dependent on nature. (Deutz A, et al, 2020). Despite the urgency of the crisis, current biodiversity financing falls far short of what is needed to reverse ecosystem degradation.

Despite significant progress being made in climate and sustainable finance, with green bonds channelling nearly $600 billion into environmental projects in 2023 alone (Popoola et al. 2024), they have largely focused on climate mitigation projects, such as renewable energy and carbon reduction and overlooked biodiversity. 

In response to this imbalance, the financial industry is evolving beyond traditional green bonds and to a new generation of financial instruments, biodiversity bonds…’

Read the full article here: Bridging the Biodiversity Financing Gap – Meadbh O’Mahony 

 

Dr Maria Fitzpatrick is our new Business Development Manager

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Business for Biodiversity Ireland is delighted to announce the newest member of our team, Dr Maria Fitzpatrick, who has taken on the role of Business Development Manager, working with Irish businesses to ensure they get the most from their membership of BFBI.

Biodiversity & Sustainability Consultant Maria has a PhD in Freshwater Ecology and worked as an Environmental Consultant before moving to Queen Mary University of London and then on to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to build and head the Research Funding Services for Kew Science.

She is Circular Economy-trained with a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive professional qualification. Her background blends scientific expertise with project and relationship management skills, and a keen understanding of the environmental challenges our world is facing to build compelling cases for change. Maria also sits on the steering committee for Natural Capital Ireland.

Maria shared:

“I am excited to be working with the brilliant team at Business For Biodiversity Ireland to help shape and drive forward our 2025 business development strategy. This will be working to bring businesses on board with our Nature Strategy Accelerator Programme, supporting businesses in the transition to achieving a thriving nature-positive economy here in Ireland and beyond.”

You can contact Maria with queries at manager@businessforbiodiversity.ie

Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies

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Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, has launched the Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies, developed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service with support from Business for Biodiversity Ireland.

The guidance provides practical steps to help public bodies fulfil their ‘biodiversity duty’ – a new legal requirement for public and state bodies to consider biodiversity in their decision making and daily operations.  The guidance will also assist public bodies in fulfilling their biodiversity reporting obligations.

Launching the guidance documents to be issued to all listed public bodies, Minister O’Sullivan, pictured right, above with the BFBI team, said: “All of us have a role to play in protecting our biodiversity, and that includes our public and state bodies. Many of them, including ESB and Iarnród Éireann, are already leading by example and can see the benefits – for biodiversity, for the public and their own organisations.

“This guidance will help even more of our public bodies to make a commitment to biodiversity. It suggests areas of business activities within public bodies, from procurement, to construction, landscape management and organisational development, which can have a real impact on our biodiversity. It will also support public and state bodies to report on their progress over the coming months as required by the legislation.”

Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies provides actionable steps and tools for public bodies to embed biodiversity considerations into their operations. It indicates areas of opportunity within public bodies where biodiversity can be incorporated, and sets out how biodiversity duty can be strengthened through clear targets, knowledge and skills development, collaboration and implementation.

The ESB is a member of the Business for Biodiversity Ireland platform, and has been working to develop a Nature Strategy in response to the recognised growing need for business guidance in transitioning to a nature-positive way of working.

Geoff Hamilton, Biodiversity Lead at ESB, pictured left, above, said: “Biodiversity action is a core part of ESB’s ambition to make a difference for planet, place and people; we aim to be nature-positive by 2030. In 2024, ESB appointed a Group Head of Sustainability, who has completed the establishment of a new Centre of Sustainability – including the creation of a new role of Group Biodiversity Lead, tasked with driving biodiversity action and transformation across ESB’s business units.

“We have recently published the ESB Networks Biodiversity Strategy ‘Networks for Nature’ and are currently in the process of developing similar strategies for other constituent business units of ESB. ESB wholeheartedly welcomes this new guidance document, which provides clear directions with regard to our annual reporting duty.”

Read more on the government website HERE and access the guidance document HERE.

 

Pictured, L-R: Geoff Hamilton, Biodiversity Lead, ESB; Fiona Smith, Communications, BFBI; Dr Emer Ní Dhúill, Research at BFBI; Iseult Sheehy, Operations, BFBI; Sinead Kilkelly, Executive Director, People & Sustainability, ESB; Dr Maria FitzPatrick, BFBI Business Development Manager; and Minister for Nature Christopher O’Sullivan TD.

Strategy: Setting SMART nature targets for your business

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Following from our kick-off Strategy Track workshop in January where we focused on the key elements of what a Nature Ambition Statement is (and why every organisation should have one!), BFBI Business Programme Lead Dr Catherine Farrell CIEEM, Trinity College Dublin, writes on the next workshop for our businesses on this track – where we outlined how to set SMART nature targets to underpin businesses’ nature strategies.

In our first workshop, we outlined the business need for a deep understanding of impacts and dependencies on nature, and importantly, where these occur along the business value chain. Focusing on our greatest impacts and dependencies on nature is an effective first step towards setting targets to both reduce the impacts, and – critically – to reduce potential financial risks and leverage opportunities at the same time. Risks arise when we are dependent on ecosystem services (also referred to as ‘nature’s contributions to people‘), but the continued flow of those services (perhaps from upstream in our value chain, as in the provision of raw materials), might well be reduced due to an affect beyond our control (think changing weather patterns on crops, for example).

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound nature targets
And so, armed with this understanding of our value chains, we worked through the process of setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound) nature targets for the businesses present at our workshop. We covered some key elements such as: targets can be generic, broad, and/or highly specific; they can be action- or outcome-focused, short or long-term, but they must always relate to the value chain. Importantly, if we are to set SMART targets, they must be resourced and matched by indicators to track progress. Thankfully, there is a range of useful guidance out there, such as the WWF Corporate Nature Targets publication, and the Science-Based Targets Network framework (with lots of great resources and videos).

As previously, we followed the guidance for the accelerator programme for businesses as set out by Business for Nature under the Commit phase of their ACT-D framework.

Setting targets may seem daunting, but if we focus on one aspect of our value chain to start with, and work through the process, then this builds familiarity and confidence in the process. At our next workshop for this track later in the year, we will focus on how to monitor, evaluate and disclose progress towards our nature targets, and how they link to other sustainability targets.

The team at Business for Biodiversity Ireland wish to extend our gratitude to Thomas Ball and Ellen Cunningham, of the KPMG Ireland Sustainable Futures Nature & Land Use Unit for supporting us in delivering this workshop. Thanks also to our host Geoff Hamilton and ESB for looking after us at their Fitzwilliam Square Head Office in Dublin. Many thanks to our associates in the National Biodiversity Data Centre and Business in the Community Ireland, and to all the businesses in our Strategy Track including An Post, ESB, Bank of Ireland,  Bus Éireann, Cairn Homes, Glenveagh Properties, Gas Networks Ireland and SAP Landscapes for doing this important work with us.

Group of people in a boardroom, some kneeling to fit in the frame

BFBI nominated for Business & Finance ESG Awards 2025

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Business For Biodiversity Ireland is delighted to be named as a finalist in the Business & Finance Media Group ESG Awards 2025 – in association with Grant Thornton Ireland – in the ‘Biodiversity Leadership in Business Award’ category.

The awards recognise the efforts of companies in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices, and celebrate those driving change through innovative policies, technology solutions, and sustainable business practices.

Congratulations also to our fellow nominees Wildacres, Biodiversity In Schools, Coillte and Dublin Port Company and to all the nominees across categories including An Post, Dublin Port Company, Bord Gáis Energy and Aldi.

The ESG Leader Award will be presented to Mary Robinson, recognising her dedication to sustainability, climate justice, and social equity on both a national and global scale.

Tracey Carney, Managing Director, Business & Finance, said: “The calibre of entries for the 2025 Business & Finance ESG Awards reflects the remarkable strides taken by organisations across Ireland in integrating sustainability at the core of their business strategies.

“We are seeing a significant shift towards collective responsibility, where entire teams are driving change and delivering measurable ESG impact.”

The winners will be announced in a ceremony on April 10 in The Mansion House, Dublin.

Read more on the Business & Finance site.
Read more on RTE News.

Including ‘Assess’ in your nature strategy: what, why and where?

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BFBI Business Programme Lead Dr Catherine Farrell CIEEM, Trinity College Dublin, writes on the process steps around a Double Materiality Assessment to help guide your nature strategy, the subject of our recent Action Track workshop.

As the birds have started to sing for us every morning again (what a joy!), it’s the right time for our businesses to spring into action. And so, inspired by the stretch in the days, on March 11th the team at Business for Biodiversity Ireland, with help from our friends at Deloitte, launched the first of our three Action Track workshops scheduled for 2025 in Dublin.

Our workshop focused on the key elements of what a Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) is (and isn’t), and why it makes perfect business sense for every organisation to conduct one. Business for Nature has outlined how we can do this through a multi-step, iterative process under the Assess phase of their ACT-D framework –

Reporting frameworks and sectoral guidance: With heads spinning after the recent EU Omnibus proposal announcement, we all agreed at the workshop, that even though reporting obligation ‘goal posts and timeframes may change, it’s in everyone’s best interest to understand a) their impacts on nature, and b) nature’s impacts / on our businesses (which in turn, relate to dependencies, but also risks and opportunities). This ‘inward and outward looking’ approach is what puts the ‘double’ in DMA. Thankfully, there is a growing repository of sectoral guidance and case studies, as well as freely available online tools like ENCORE and IBAT that assist businesses to begin the journey of ‘Assess’ with relative ease. In the workshop we talked through CSRD, TNFD, SBTN and GRI, but we reminded ourselves, at the heart of all these frameworks is rolling up the sleeves to understand our business operations, our extended value chains and who we interact with along the way.

Value chains and stakeholders: In a world of global value chains – where does a value chain start and end? We spent a fruitful and insightful couple of hours working through value chains relevant to our businesses present: it was great to see the emerging pictures on flipcharts, and participate in conversations that really helped our collective understanding to grow – particularly in relation to where our greatest impacts and dependencies may lie. This is a critical part of the DMA process.

Our next two Action Track workshops will build on this work, working through tools like the TNFD LEAP (Locate, Evaluate, Assess and Prepare), to help bring our understanding to light.

A big thank you to our supporters and speakers from Deloitte, Arianna Bunello and Sofia Langs, with  support from Aoife Connaughton and Caitlyn Flanagan, BFBI Head of Operations Iseult Sheehy and Head of Research Dr Emer Ní Dhúill, Sarah Kelly, of National Biodiversity Data Centre, Eadaoin Boyle Tobin, Business in The Community Ireland.

Thanks to our Action Track businesses – Emily Riondato, Kate Farrell and Caoimhe Donnelly, of Coras Iompair Éireann; Ken Lyons, CIE Tours; Aine Kirrane, Dublin Airport Authority, Liam O’Neill (and Sean online) of Cloud Assist; Aoife McGovern, Future Energy Ireland; Ailish Duggan, Irish Rail; Bob Hamilton, Irish Trees; David Finane, KMK; Aebhín Cawley, Scott CawleyLtd; Arek Gdulinski, Shannon Airport and David Lawlor, Watermark.

Sign up for Discovery Track or level up to Action Track in the Members Home to gain access to future workshops.

Strategy: Developing a Nature Ambition Statement

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BFBI Business Programme Lead Dr Catherine Farrell CIEEM, Trinity College Dublin, who presented at our recent Stategy Track workshop in Dublin, recaps on the benefits of developing a Nature Ambition Statement to help guide your nature strategy.

It’s is the perfect time to set targets for the coming year. And so, in the spirit of setting a steady nature-positive pace, the team at Business for Biodiversity Ireland, with help from the Sustainable Futures team at KPMG Ireland, kicked off 2025 with an insightful January workshop for our Strategy Track businesses.

Our focus was on the key elements of what a Nature Ambition Statement is – and why every organisation should have one. BFBI, in partnership with Business for Nature, is hosting the It’s Now for Nature Accelerator programme to empower Irish businesses to develop and publish a credible nature strategy.

Step 1: So, you’ve done your basic value-chain mapping, you’ve identified your main impacts and dependencies, and you’ve found that biodiversity is a material topic for your business to include in annual reporting. In the process, you’ve highlighted key areas to focus on, and you have a sense of what you can achieve. Maybe you also discovered areas that your employees or customers want you to focus on. But you need a North Star to guide your next steps. That is what your Nature Ambition Statement is.

There are some good examples available to learn from, such as the ambition statement developed by Foresight Group, and Business for Nature has provided some good guidance around elements that should be included – such as, how your ambition aligns with the Global Biodiversity Framework targets and timelines for delivery. 

Step 2: The ambition, set out in Step 1, can only be achieved if it is supported by setting targets that can be realised. We need to be thinking about targets that are SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound; being clear on what is achievable and within what timeframes. This will be the focus of our next two Strategy Track business workshops coming up later in the year.

In a nutshell, a Nature Ambition Statement sets the coordinates for where your business needs to, and importantly, wants to, go for nature. It can be used to help guide the target-setting process within the company but it also sends a clear, action-oriented message to your customers and key stakeholders. The process itself – agreeing and refining the business’ nature ambition – could also be described as the first step in business transformation.

The next step is getting clear on what the business can do, and what it is ready to commit to, towards a nature-positive future. More on this to come in our next workshop in April.

Our Strategy Track includes pilot BFBI businesses who have been progressing their organisation’s Nature Strategy and sharing feedback along the way, including An Post, Bank of Ireland, Bus Eireann, Cairn Homes, ESB Networks, Gas Networks Ireland, Glenveagh Properties, KPMG Ireland’s Sustainable Futures, SAP Landscapes and our associates at Business in The Community Ireland, Biodiversity Data Centre and Trinity College Dublin.

  • To take the first step on the BFBI 4-Track Nature Strategy Accelerator Programme, your organisation can sign up for our free Discovery Track. Once you have a good handle on what’s needed for your business to begin to take action, you can sign-up to progress along the paid Action Track, then the next step will be the Strategy Track.

Read more here – How It All Works.

Dr Catherine Farrell is our Business Programme Lead

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Business For Biodiversity Ireland is delighted to announce that Dr Catherine Farrell is moving over from our Board of Directors to take on the role of Business Programme Lead.

A pioneer of ecological restoration and research in Ireland and internationally, having developed Ireland’s first Biodiversity Action Plan for a corporate body (Bord na Móna), Catherine is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences and Adjunct Teaching Fellow in Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin.

Catherine developed a new TCD module for 2024-2025, The Business of Nature Positive, which incorporates learnings about nature, society and economy, exploring ways for undergraduate students to work with businesses in Ireland to support the global Nature Positive Initiative, and report through the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

Catherine worked on the EPA-funded research project INCASE, applying the UN SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework at catchment scale in Ireland up to 2022, and her current research as part of BiOrbic National Bioeconomy Research Centre focuses on developing mechanisms to structure, finance, monitor and communicate the direct impacts and broader societal benefits of nature restoration (Project ReFarm).  She was lead organiser of the Peatlands Gathering 2021, and is also a member of the ongoing National Land Use Review process.

Read more on our Meet the Team page.

 

Farewell to BFBI Executive Director Lucy Gaffney

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BFBI would like to wish a very fond farewell to Executive Director Lucy Gaffney who has stepped down from her role at Business for Biodiversity Ireland.

The team would like to express our gratitude for Lucy’s three years of dedication and hard work in developing our platform, our Nature Strategy Accelerator Programme and in spreading the message on the importance of transitioning to a nature-positive economy, including presenting at Ireland’s pioneering Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss and co-hosting the European Business & Nature Summit. We wish Lucy all the best in her new endeavours, after she takes some time out for a well-earned break. Lucy shared:

“In my time with BFBI, I’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible power of collaboration between business leaders, environmental advocates, and policymakers. Together, we’ve made strides toward ensuring that business can be a force for good in preserving our planet’s biodiversity for future generations.

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last three years and excited for what lies ahead for both the organisation and the growing movement of businesses working to safeguard nature. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the board, our members, and the incredible team at BFBI for their support and dedication.”

What’s the Business Outlook for Nature in 2025?

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2024 was an eventful year for those of us working in advancing nature action at both national and global level.

The much-contested  EU Nature Restoration Law  was brought in – and the Green Party, which was in Government at the time, with Ireland’s first Minister for Nature Malcolm Noonan, were instrumental in getting it over the line. However, there remains political pushback at home and abroad as we enter 2025 and environmental concerns slip further down the agenda in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, political turmoil and global conflict. 

Extreme weather incidents are putting these concerns squarely back on the agenda for the private sector as we start 2025, particularly in the area of insurance and financial investments. Fears are being raised in the food sector due to the climate and nature crises, and we will likely see tourism, hospitality and retail affected globally, as well as a rise in public health concerns. The latest  WEF Global Risks Report  rates several environment-related risks in prominent positions in their Top 10 for a 10-year analysis, with the risk from biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse ranked in second place, after extreme weather events. The short-term (2 years) risk analysis ranks extreme weather events in second place, however, the risk from biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is not as prominent yet on the short-term list of worries for polled business leaders. This is surprising given that it is now widely understood that biodiverse ecosystems create resilient landscapes and enhance carbon sequestration, lessening the effects of climate change such as extreme weather events. (The Economics of Biodiversity aka the Dasgupta Review, for the UK Treasury in 2021, warns we must start accounting for nature’s contributions in national accounts to inform decision-making for future resilience).

We welcome the announcement of a new Minister of State for Nature, Heritage & Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and hope concrete and swift action on nature loss and degradation will be set in motion once Ireland’s National Restoration Plan, being developed by the  National Parks & Wildlife Service  in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, is finalised. The new  Programme for Government  pledges to keep the Infrastructure, Nature & Climate Fund, instigated by the previous government, with plans to pursue more funding at EU level, and delivery of Ireland’s  National Biodiversity Action Plan 2023-2030,  which sees a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach. We look forward to continuing to work with a number of government departments in developing and implementing actions to support businesses in achieving this. 

Despite an uneven progress following successive global summits on climate and nature, BFBI agrees with recent commentary by Business for Nature’s CEO Eva Zabey that interest levels and discussions on biodiversity within the business and policy world are certainly “maturing and multiplying”. “Tackling complex issues such as biodiversity loss and its interconnections with climate and social equity takes time, where global discussions remain key, even if they don’t always result in the urgent progress we are collectively striving for.

“This requires all of us to act with both urgency and perseverance. We take heart in the progress made over the past 12 months by our fantastic community and partners, and by the growing number of businesses and policymakers committed to building a nature-positive future for all by 2030.”

Zabey lists some key highlights from the past year, including the introduction of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in effect for 11,000 companies in 2025.

“Over 500 companies have committed to disclosing their nature-related issues to investors using the TNFD recommendations – a 57% increase since the beginning of the year, 30 companies have published dedicated nature strategies through It’s Now for Nature and first mover companies publicly adopted science-based targets for nature. These are encouraging signals of change.”

However voluntary action by businesses is far from the norm, and many organisations still do not understand their impacts and dependencies on nature. There is confusion among Irish companies on the scope of the new reporting rules, with a number of our larger legal firms seeking clarification from the Government on how the legislation is to be applied in Ireland.

It is essential that the new Government and the business sector show leadership in making this the year to accelerate our transition to Nature Positive rather than risk playing catch-up – if you are new to it all, start here on our free Discovery Track with access to the evolving guidance and resources coming your way in 2025, including our free webinar series.

Those keen to make the commitment to put prior learning and resources into action now can join our Nature Strategy Accelerator Programme’s paid Action Track for tailored help to get your reporting on track, and be ready to make real positive impact for your business and for nature. We’ll help you to advance to our Strategy Track and Evolution Track, through our Roadmap to Nature Positive (in alignment with the global Now for Nature Strategy), to maintain a steady path to long-term sustainability.

Get on track HERE.

 

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