COP 17 in Yerevan put the spotlight on implementation: aligning budgets, reforming harmful subsidies and mobilising finance. Each of these depends on companies being able to understand and act on the science.
RESPIN project’s new report explores a peek into how implementation can be rooted in business reality.
Just before the European Business and Nature Summit in late 2025, RESPIN brought together representatives from the IPCC national working group, IPBES Bureau, EU Science-Service for Biodiversity (BioAgora project), UNEP-WCMC, Biodiversa+; business platforms such as Business for Nature and the Capitals Coalition; and companies including Arla Foods and Mandatum. Together, they discussed how companies use IPBES and IPCC outputs, what holds them back, and avenues forward.
What we found
- Science is used, but mostly to set the agenda. Companies draw on IPBES and IPCC reports for baselines, benchmarking and communication. Climate science is applied more concretely; biodiversity science mostly helps build the business case.
- There is a practicality gap. IPBES and IPCC summaries are negotiated with governments and written for international policymakers. Information overload and thin in-house expertise, especially in SMEs, make them hard to apply to specific business contexts.
- Biodiversity has no single currency. Climate has CO2 equivalent. Biodiversity is multidimensional and local, so there is no single metric, and frameworks and consultancies interpret the science in different ways.
- Policy and finance move the mass. Regulation, disclosure requirements, and expectations from lenders, investors and buyers are the strongest drivers.
What can help
The report sets out six avenues to bring science, policy and business closer:
- Biodiversity and climate knowledge should be better translated for business, with sector-specific information, business-relevant policy analysis and actionable solutions.
- National multipliers - IPBES and IPCC focal points, ministries, agencies and research institutes - have a key role in disseminating and tailoring outputs locally.
- Consistent and coherent policies are needed, which recognise voluntary frameworks, and support companies, including SMEs with capacity building.
- Coordination is needed among the growing set of frameworks and tools, seeking approaches that treat climate and nature together.
- Increased in-house capacity is needed in companies, from board-level leadership to cross-department expertise, including business-to-business learning.
- Scientists need to speak the language of business, communicate uncertainty clearly and highlight nature-based solutions that can synergically address the climate and biodiversity crises.
Read the full report: D8.2 Develop a format for knowledge uptake by private sector actors: Strengthening the uptake of biodiversity and climate science by business
