7 July 2022 – CISL has published four sector-specific business briefings that outline the challenges and actions needed to implement nature-based solutions projects. The sectors include: Water, Finance, Food and Beverage, and Built Environment and Linear Infrastructure.
Four years after The Catchment Management Declaration was launched by HRH The Prince of Wales, two pilot nature-based solutions projects have brought together farmers, businesses, local authorities, government departments and agencies and NGOs to deliver scalable solutions to reduce land, habitat and water degradation and flood risk. The two regenerative nature projects offer blueprints for land management that supports a range of environment improvements, including biodiversity, water quality, flood mitigation, emissions reductions and carbon sequestration, through more sustainable agriculture.
In addition to these projects, the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has developed four sector-specific business briefings that detail the challenges and actions needed to implement nature-based solutions (NbS) projects and why they are necessary. The intention of these briefs is to encourage companies to reconsider their relationship with nature and to explore how they could get involved in similar projects.
Water sector
Food and Beverage sector
Built Environment and Linear Infrastructure sectors
Finance sector
Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Water Sector
Read the report
The UK, and the world, face dual and intertwined climate and biodiversity crises. Water and wastewater companies are on the frontline of both challenges as they seek to deliver critical public services while navigating climate change impacts and stewarding the natural resources on which their business – and society – rely. Nature-based solutions offer a way forward as this sector seeks to future proof its operations.
Citing this report
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2022). Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Water Sector. Cambridge: The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Food and Beverage Sector
Read the report
Food and beverage (F&B) companies are on the frontline of both crises, seeking to deliver robust services for customers amid climate-related supply chain challenges while stewarding the natural resources on which their businesses – and society – rely. Around the world, first mover companies are working with suppliers and farmers on landscape level interventions that use nature to make the global food supply more resilient while mitigating climate change and enhancing biodiversity.
While measures must be farmer-centred for success, the entire F&B value chain – from food producers and processors to manufacturers and consumer retailers – has an interest and responsibility in advancing NbS.
Citing this report
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2022). Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Food and Beverage Sector. Cambridge: The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Built Environment and Linear Infrastructure Sectors
Read the report
The Built Environment sector constructs, maintains and operates the buildings that make up villages, towns and cities. The Linear Infrastructure sector operates in parallel, providing the roads, rail, power lines, pipe networks and other architecture that enable society to function. Closely integrated, these two sectors account for a large share of any given country’s carbon footprint and impact on nature. At the same time, they offer major opportunities to strengthen the resilience of human society, maximise shared social benefit and create safe, secure and enjoyable futures for all.
This business briefing highlights NbS as an effective strategic approach for developers and construction companies, architects and engineers seeking to future-proof their businesses against the growing impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Citing this report
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2022). Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions for the Built Environment and Linear Infrastructure Sectors. Cambridge: The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions and the Finance Sector
Read the report
The UK and global economies depend on the services that nature provides. The loss of these services brings high financial as well as social and environmental risks, with more than half of global GDP highly or moderately dependent on nature. Yet the world’s natural resources continue to decline, with 23 per cent of land now degraded and ocean ‘dead zones’ spanning an area larger than the UK. Unless this trend is reversed, at least USD 10 trillion of GDP will be lost by 2050 as ecosystem services decline. Global financial institutions are among sectors exposed to business risks and potential losses as a result, with the Dutch finance sector alone facing an estimated €510 billion exposure. The global finance sector is responding to counter nature-related business risks while also taking advantage of a potential “future market for nature”.
Citing this report
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2022). Decision Making in a Nature-Positive World: Nature-based Solutions and the Finance Sector. Cambridge: The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
