Global Impact Report: All Industries Edition, Q1 2025

Nature and Climate Risks Amid Trade Complexities Reshape Global Sustainability Priorities

This comprehensive cross-industry analysis examines how biodiversity accountability presents mounting challenges for enterprises worldwide, with the inability to measure impact across complex value chains creating significant risks for businesses adhering to the GRI biodiversity standards. This research reveals how indirect impacts often remain unreported, undermining accountability and potentially creating material exposures as stakeholder expectations and regulatory frameworks evolve throughout global business contexts.

The report additionally highlights how recent tariff volatility has disrupted sustainability initiatives for 58% of global companies particularly affecting investments in climate adaptation and nature-positive innovations.

Call to Action: Companies across all sectors should develop regionally balanced operations and implement flexible sustainability strategies that can adapt to trade policy fluctuations ensuring environmental commitments remain achievable despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties.

The report highlights extinction accounting as a structured method for businesses to address biodiversity loss and measure environmental impact. This methodological approach enables more sophisticated materiality assessment processes that satisfy both traditional financial reporting requirements and evolving expectations for natural capital accounting, creating potential competitive advantages for early adopters navigating complex ecological dependencies and impacts throughout their operations and supply networks.

This analysis examines how leading companies implementing proactive biodiversity strategies are demonstrating a growing recognition of both financial materiality and impact materiality considerations, aligning with evolving global frameworks, particularly the UN Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. These approaches not only address immediate compliance considerations but also enhance strategic positioning as investors, customers and regulators increasingly scrutinise biodiversity performance throughout global operations and supply chains.

The report examines significant regulatory developments that are reshaping reporting landscapes, with the newly released GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 standard supporting organisations in comprehensively disclosing their most significant impacts on biodiversity throughout their operations and value chains. This standard establishes new expectations for location-specific reporting, including countries and jurisdictions, with detailed information on operational sites and impacts on communities and Indigenous Peoples, representing a significant advancement in ESG reporting expectations.

Looking toward future governance landscapes, the report identifies how integrated approaches combining AI-driven impact assessment, circular economy principles and comprehensive stakeholder engagement are transforming industry approaches to biodiversity accountability and nature-positive business models. Companies implementing comprehensive strategies aligned with frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) are demonstrating enhanced preparedness for CSRD reporting requirements and other evolving disclosure frameworks while potentially securing advantages in stakeholder trust, operational resilience and strategic positioning throughout increasingly nature-conscious markets.