Open letter from members of the business network Business@Biodiversity Sweden to Annika Strandhäll and Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson in connection with Stockholm +50.
Current climate change and the degradation of the ecosystem services that provide us with fresh air, water and food are two crucial threats to our common future, and it is increasingly clear that they need to be addressed together. A holistic approach to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss must be taken now. If we fail to meet the climate challenge, we will also fail to preserve biodiversity, but we also need stable ecosystems to cope with a changing climate.
Delivering global climate benefits while enhancing biodiversity requires global cooperation and innovation. Industry is creating innovative solutions and is one of the pillars of the drive to achieve net-zero biodiversity loss. But we need strong action in industrial and environmental policies to succeed.
The eyes of the world are now on Sweden as global leaders gather once again, this time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations conference on the environment, the Stockholm Conference. Since then, negotiations have continued and global agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 2030 Agenda have been adopted. However, the climate crisis remains acute and biodiversity continues to decline drastically. On the agenda at Stockholm+50 are vital issues such as 'halting biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystems', as well as innovative global cooperation such as financing environmental action through debt relief.
Business is a necessary enabler in the quest to achieve net-zero biodiversity loss and to rebuild and strengthen natural capital. Business wants to take responsibility and we are now investing in knowledge and innovation to integrate biodiversity into our business models and strategies.
We exchange ideas and experiences within the Swedish and European business network, Business@Biodiversity. Through our collaboration, the CLImB measurement tool was born, among other things, which helps us ensure that our biodiversity actions produce real, measurable results.
But to go all the way, we need the support of your decision-makers. That is why we are making three calls to the government:
1. Successful global cooperation requires global goals
Sweden is a small and open economy with companies that are deeply integrated into global value chains. This gives us good opportunities to influence global environmental and climate work, but it also exposes us to risks. Biodiversity can be impacted by our suppliers as well as our customers, so it is important that the countries of the world pull together.
Businesses around the world want transparent, predictable rules and this requires clear global targets.
- We urge the Swedish delegation to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in September in Kunming to push for ambitious, measurable and time-bound global targets.
2. a holistic approach to nature and climate creates more appropriate permit assessments
There is an urgent need for change, not least to mitigate climate change. Electricity use must double within 20 years. Many key investments for the climate transition are location-specific and may also have some local impacts on species and habitats. Wind power must be built where the wind blows; metals and minerals must be extracted where they occur in the bedrock; forest raw materials are needed to replace fossil-based products; stable electricity grids must link production and consumption. This means being able to balance and assess local nature conservation against environmental and climate benefits in a broader geographical perspective, which may sometimes need to be global.
Unpredictable and inefficient permitting processes, partly as a result of the current interpretation of EU directives, risk shifting production to countries with lower environmental standards. We are already investing in R&D and innovative solutions to ensure that climate investments and land use go hand in hand with biodiversity investments.
- We urge the Swedish government to analyze the Swedish implementation and initiate a discussion within the EU on a more appropriate design of the Habitats and Birds Directives.
3. flexible solutions provide the conditions to maximize nature benefits per invested krona
Investments in infrastructure and other facilities inevitably take up land. Sometimes there are no alternative locations and natural values may be lost. Despite this, a net-zero impact on biodiversity can be achieved. Here, compensatory measures can be an important enabler. But, it must be clear what applies.
By offsetting, we mean evidence-based measures to restore other degraded environments and protect valuable nature - on companies' own lands or elsewhere through market-based solutions such as offset pools and habitat banking.
For methods to be accepted, widely applied and transparent, it requires the development of structures, standardization and tools. This requires common measures of biodiversity and the impact of measures, methods that we are already working on today within the business network Business@Biodiversity Sweden.
- We call on the Swedish government to create clear rules for compensation, nature-based solutions and other effective measures to strengthen biodiversity that can be used in different contexts such as environmental permitting. This should be done in close dialog with the business community.
Signed:
Fredrik Höök, CEO, Ecogain; coordinator of the business network Business@Biodiversity Sweden
Helle Herk-Hansen, Environmental Manager, Vattenfall
Pia Lindström, Director of Environment and Sustainability, LKAB
Hillevi Priscar, Country Manager for Sweden, OX2
Åsa Jackson, Director Corporate Responsibility, Boliden
Sara Sandberg, Environmental Manager, Fortum
Ylva Andersson, Vice President, Jämtkraft Sverige AB
Catarina Hägglund, Sustainability Manager, Skellefteå Kraft
Malin Serrander, Sustainability and Communication Manager, SR Energy
Kristina Branteryd, Environmental Manager, Svemin
Business@Biodiversity Sweden business network
