Reflecting on the European Business Nature Summit
In October, the EU Business and Biodiversity Platform organised a summit on Business and Nature, gathering European business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and civil society for a two-day conference to empower companies to take transformative action.
Several partner companies within BIOPATH participated, such as Orkla, Stora Enso, MDOTM as well as researcher Ulrika Engström Palme, Senior lecturer at Environmental Systems Analysis, Chalmers, active in WP1. Here are some reflections she made during the summit and the train ride to Milano and back to Gothenburg.
“The Executive Director of the foundation for Sustainable Development, Mieke Siebers opened by emphasising the dire state of biodiversity but balanced the mood of the audience by urging not to despair, we need to act and keep up the good work”, recaps Ulrika and continues:
“Some speakers managed to come across and deliver this message although others were overly cheerful, indicating that they may not have understood the situation after all.
Changes to the current capitalistic system?
In a session on Roadmaps to Nature-Positive, with the aim to avoid greenwashing and ensure real outcomes for biodiversity, Ulrika Engström Palme asked the panel if they thought that we can achieve the targets set out in GBF within the existing capitalistic system. For some this was provocative, but many others welcomed the discussion that followed and applauded the courage to address the elephant in the room. Most agreed that an improved form of our current system is needed, with circular economy and the doughnut model as steps in the right direction.
“There were many good take-aways from other sessions, especially on how EU is steering towards increased awareness, knowledge and action for the conservation of biodiversity”, underlines Ulrika Engström Palme.
The two-day summit had many breakout sessions that are all recorded, and slides and summaries are available at the event site: European Business & Nature Summit 2023 - European Commission (europa.eu)
Get started even if it seems difficult
To summarise she saw both opportunities and risk. The general advice is to start working with biodiversity although it may seem hard. It must not be perfect from the start, but it is important to understand the impact of one´s supply chains. With a growing set of tools and learning forums, it is easier to find collaborations and learn from others.
However, there are still those who look for how to simplify and try to find a CO2 equivalent for biodiversity measures and stay on the visible PR-related actions such as planting extra flowers and supporting beehives rather than making inventories of resource and energy flows where the huge impact on biodiversity can be found.
Green travels with time to reflect
As transportation also has a large impact on climate and nature, it was an obvious choice for Ulrika Engström Palme to travel to and from the summit by train:
“It was enjoyable and also provided plenty of time to reflect as a bonus. The landscape travelling over the alps is stunningly beautiful and I have many snapshot souvenires in my mind as well as in my camera card. A key take-away is to encourage others to take time to travel and work by train.
Mistra BIOPATH has a green travel policy and work extensively online.