How do the largest businesses in Europe report their impact on, their dependence on and their work with biodiversity? The Ecogain Biodiversity Index (EBI) has released its report on how 400 of Europe's largest companies report on biodiversity.
Credit: Ecogain
Credit: Ecogain
Top of the list is Swedish state-owned energy giant Vattenfall, followed by France's Engie and Finland's Stora Enso in joint second place, and French fashion brand Louis Vuitton coming in third.
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It is the second year that Vattenfall took first place, though last year only the Nordic and Baltic countries were examined.
"Being in the top of this year’s biodiversity index is truly a recognition of our long-term and persistent work by many Vattenfall colleagues. It is of the highest priority to continue reducing our biodiversity footprint by delivering on our climate targets and by creating positive impacts through our biodiversity projects and R&D investments.
"The energy transition is crucial in order to halt the biodiversity loss and we do our utmost to ensure that our investments are done in co-existence with nature," said Vattenfall CEO Anna Borg.
Ecogain Biodiversity Index 2022
There is a strong tendency for industries that have a direct impact on biodiversity to have higher EBI scores than those where the impact is further down the value chain. But this year, more than 50% of the audited companies have set goals for biodiversity. For example, British American Tobacco is high on the list.
"For this type of company, the impact and dependencies on biodiversity are less obvious than for companies with a direct land impact, for example in the forest or mining industry. The relatively high figure we now see in consumer goods, therefore, testifies that these companies have identified biodiversity as an important factor in their value chain.
"All organisations have dependencies and impact on biodiversity somewhere in their operations. Identifying and mapping these, is the first step toward creating a strategy for biodiversity. This means that companies also can take measures to secure their business model in the long term," said Fredrik Höök, CEO of Ecogain.
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The upward trend for biodiversity in the business and industrial sectors is showing a slow but steady increase. In the 2020 report, none of the Swedish companies examined had set concrete goals in line with science for biodiversity. This year, that figure is 10% for Swedish companies and for the whole of Europe slightly higher at 14%.
The process of incorporating biodiversity into operations is still slow with 31% of the companies surveyed for this year's Ecogain Biodiversity Index not mentioning biodiversity in their sustainability reports at all. This autumn, the report will be expanded to include the largest companies in the United States.
- Download the full report from Ecogain.
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