The New Language of Corporate Nature Management
While climate change has dominated sustainability discussions for decades, biodiversity has remained in the background—until now. The International Organization for Standardization’s release of ISO 17298 represents a watershed moment for how businesses measure and manage their relationship with nature. This global standard provides what experts call the “missing rulebook” for turning biodiversity concerns into measurable corporate action, potentially transforming how companies approach environmental responsibility.
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“Many organizations see the urgency of biodiversity action, but navigating the path can be complex,” said Noelia Garcia Nebra, head of sustainability and partnerships at ISO. “Until now, there has been no globally agreed standard for integrating biodiversity into strategies and operations.”
Why Biodiversity Accounting Matters Now
Over half of global GDP—approximately $58 trillion—depends moderately or highly on nature’s services, from pollination and water purification to soil fertility and raw materials. Meanwhile, biodiversity has declined by roughly 2-6% per decade over the past 50 years, according to UN-backed assessments. This erosion of natural capital creates tangible business risks that extend far beyond corporate social responsibility reports.
The standard arrives amid broader industry developments in environmental governance, including evolving regulatory frameworks across multiple sectors. As companies face increasing pressure to demonstrate genuine sustainability performance, ISO 17298 provides the structure to convert abstract commitments into concrete actions.
From Carbon to Nature: The Next Frontier in Corporate Reporting
ISO 17298 builds on lessons from the carbon accounting era, where standards like ISO 14001 and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures created the infrastructure for climate accountability. The new standard works in tandem with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), with TNFD’s LEAP framework providing analytical logic and ISO 17298 supplying operational mechanics.
“ISO 17298 embeds biodiversity into core decision-making and risk management, not just sustainability reporting,” Garcia Nebra explained. “It gives organizations a structured way to assess impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities.”
This integration comes as businesses navigate complex global economic transitions that increasingly factor environmental considerations into financial planning.
Practical Implementation: From Framework to Action
Developed by experts from more than 60 countries, ISO 17298 translates broad biodiversity goals into an operational checklist. It guides organizations to select science-based metrics that capture their relationship with nature, covering pressures like land-use change, ecosystem states such as habitat quality, dependencies including pollination services, and responses like restoration activities.
French company BL évolution’s Fanny Bancourt, who worked on the ISO 17298 project, noted that the standard builds on France’s 2021 NF X32-001 framework, which gave early adopters a step-by-step approach. “Some organizations used it to strengthen biodiversity action plans that were scattered or symbolic; others used it to start from scratch,” she said.
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The framework’s design accommodates diverse implementation contexts, from manufacturing operations to agricultural supply chains, enabling consistent application across sectors and regions.
Financial Implications and Market Transformation
Perhaps most significantly, ISO 17298 positions biodiversity as a material financial consideration rather than a peripheral environmental issue. The standard enables comparable, credible data that “strengthens ESG credibility, informs investment decisions, and facilitates access to nature-positive finance, blended finance, and green bonds,” according to Garcia Nebra.
This financial dimension extends to infrastructure planning and development projects, where nature-related risks can significantly impact project viability and long-term returns. Similarly, the entertainment sector faces production challenges that increasingly incorporate environmental considerations.
By giving investors a consistent way to evaluate biodiversity performance, the standard could catalyze new financial products, including biodiversity-linked loans, insurance products, and due-diligence tools—mirroring how standardized carbon accounting enabled transition finance a decade ago.
Global Adoption and Sector-Specific Applications
Early adoption is expected in Europe, particularly in France, Germany, and the U.K., with growing engagement from Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Rwanda. Sectors with significant nature dependencies—including agriculture, mining, construction, energy, chemicals, and textiles—are anticipated to be among the first implementers.
The framework is deliberately scalable, enabling smaller enterprises and public institutions to align with national biodiversity goals, demonstrate compliance, and access emerging green-finance opportunities. This accessibility is crucial as organizations worldwide navigate economic rebalancing while maintaining environmental commitments.
Implementation Strategy and Future Developments
For organizations beginning their biodiversity accounting journey, Bancourt advises starting simply: “ISO 17298 is designed for every kind of organization. Just follow the requirements one by one, and you’ll quickly have a robust action plan.”
The standard represents just the beginning of a broader standardization effort. ISO TC 331 is developing complementary standards on biodiversity net gain, ecosystem services, and measurement approaches, creating what Garcia Nebra describes as “the technical backbone for scaling nature-positive action globally.”
This systematic approach to nature accounting parallels sector-specific innovations in other industries, where standardization enables more efficient resource allocation and performance measurement.
The Road Ahead: From Voluntary to Mandatory
If carbon accounting defined the last decade of corporate transformation, biodiversity accounting may define the next—but the transition is accelerating. What took two decades for carbon, from voluntary disclosure to investor-grade accountability, is unfolding in half the time for nature.
As this comprehensive analysis illustrates, ISO 17298 marks biodiversity’s entry into the realm of fiduciary duty. Companies now have both the blueprint and the expectation to prove their nature-positive performance. If adoption follows the trajectory of carbon accounting, biodiversity metrics could appear within 2-3 years in board audits, loan covenants, and supply-chain contracts.
The question is no longer whether companies will account for nature, but which will lead in treating natural capital as essential infrastructure rather than a corporate social responsibility gesture—and how quickly markets will reward those who do.
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