Nature Takes Center Stage: Key Insights from the EU Business Nature Summit 2025

The message from the recent EU Business Nature Summit held in Helsinki, Finland was unmistakable: preserving nature is fundamental for business resilience, and letting it decline poses a financial risk to every organization.

“It’s promising to see how the messaging around nature has become sharper and more unified,” notes Julia Kostin, EcoVadis biodiversity specialist, who attended the event. “The conversation is increasingly directed towards CEOs and executives, framing biodiversity no longer as a philanthropic issue, but a core business concern.”

Nature Remains Economically Invisible

Despite this progress, a key challenge remains: our economic system fails to account for the value of ecosystems and the services they provide — the “invisible infrastructure” that sustains our way of life. As one speaker provocatively noted, “in our current economic model, nature is only valuable when it’s dead”. The statement sparked debate, but reflects an undeniable truth about how nature’s worth is perceived today. “The underrepresentation of company executives at these kinds of events symbolizes this chronic disconnect,” notes Julia.

While the energy and innovation around the nature agenda remain palpable, global events and market volatility over the past year have created new bottlenecks and barriers to the full recognition of the biodiversity crisis within mainstream sustainability agendas. Furthermore, EU policy developments are sending mixed signals to businesses. On one hand, there’s an unrelenting delay and unraveling of what was once state-of-the-art mandatory reporting. On the other hand, a cascade of ambitious initiatives is emerging, signaling continued commitment to the nature agenda, from the EU Soil Monitoring Law to the upcoming Bioeconomy Strategy, Circular Economy Act, and Directive on Nature Credits.

For companies that have already prioritized nature, this policy ambiguity is unlikely to slow progress; they continue to act because they understand the financial consequences of inaction. However, it creates challenges for SMEs, whose constrained resources mean having to do much more with even less.

Moving Beyond the Leaders Requires All-Hands-On-Deck

Real transformation will depend on achieving sustained growth in the number of second- and third-wave businesses joining the conversation, beyond the usual frontrunners and changemakers. 

EcoVadis data analysis showed that among companies with the most direct and material biodiversity impacts, only 14% conducted risk assessments on their operations’ impact on biodiversity and ecosystems, just 13% engaged in partnerships or research collaborations for biodiversity, and 16% had implemented practices to avoid or minimize the use of biocides and fertilizers on at least one operational site. This underscores the challenge: while awareness grows, the translation into widespread, fundamental operational changes needed for a nature-positive transition is lagging.

Change Starts with Conversation and Connection

So, how do we accelerate this shift, especially in the current landscape? Discussions at the Summit highlighted two crucial psychological components needed for systemic change.

The first point is the notion of shared responsibility. No single actor can bear the entire weight of remodeling our economic system. Transformative nature action needs integrated efforts both within and across stakeholder networks, connecting business partners, communities, industries, consumers, experts and policymakers. Spillover and biodiversity loss don’t stop at borders, nature positive movement can only deliver its true potential if the entire value chain is committed.

Secondly, it’s about communication. Julia notes, “One of the key messages at the Summit, particularly during talks on regenerative agriculture, is that people don’t like being told what to do.” This is especially important when engaging peers on complex nature issues amidst the many competing sustainability issues. Rather than imposing solutions, the focus must be on encouraging dialogue and providing resources so colleagues and partners can assess risks and opportunities themselves.

To scale up biodiversity efforts, the how matters just as much as the what. Success hinges on collaborative, empowering approaches that facilitate co-creation, not just delegation, especially when today’s policy direction is unclear. “Leveraging our spheres of influence to encourage, test, incentivize, and scale voluntary approaches becomes crucial while we navigate this space.”

Given the complexity of nature, any professional getting started must first build a solid foundation in its relevant scientific concepts and terminology. Ultimately, it’s about connecting two traditionally segregated worlds: ecology and business. The knowledge gap is real. 

To find out how companies can turn the tide on biodiversity loss, read our latest whitepaper here, and watch out for the upcoming IPBES Business & Biodiversity assessment report, set for release in February 2026.