The View | Companies need to target net zero on biodiversity loss, not just climate change
- Given the intimate relationship between climate and the biosphere, the two crises can only be tackled together
- The private sector’s role should not be limited to risk mitigation and transparent reporting – capital expenditure can be redirected to repair damage to the ecosystem

Human health has been dependent on nature for centuries. The people of ancient Mesopotamia used hundreds of plants to treat injuries and illnesses.
Many such nature-based treatments remain in use today. By some estimates, more than a third of modern drugs are derived from flora and fauna and the pharmaceutical industry uses as many as 70,000 different species of plants.
But medical therapies represent only a fraction of what humans stand to lose from the depletion of the Earth’s biodiversity. A healthy biosphere ensures the world is sufficiently supplied with food, clean air, water and fertile soil. It also creates the conditions under which crucial processes such as pollination, flood protection and carbon capture and storage take place.
Attempts have been made to quantify the risk. One model developed by the United Nations treats the planet’s resources as “natural capital”, an asset much like any other that appears on a company’s balance sheet.