Regulations for Life
It might seem surprising that many companies ask for stricter regulations — especially around CO₂ emissions. How does that make sense? Tighter rules often require sizable investments that affect the bottom line in the short term.
But it’s actually not so strange. Businesses are run by people — people with families, kids, and concerns about the future. Companies with mature and forward-looking leadership genuinely want to improve their ecological equation. But they face tough competition. If others keep using fossil fuels, harmful materials, and underpaid labor, being a good business can quickly become being out of business.
That’s where regulations and laws come in: to make sure everyone plays by the same rules. But more than that — smart regulation unlocks innovation. It pushes evolution. And evolution is the lifeblood of business.
Becoming biodiversity-friendly requires a major shift in many sectors. But it’s a shift we need to make if we value the gift of life on Earth. This is so basic it shouldn’t even need saying. If you sail the oceans in a boat, you care about the boat. If you live on a planet, you need to care for it too. Pretty obvious.
Still, none of this is possible unless we work together. To level the playing field, we need to build nature — its value and its benefits — into all rules, policies, and business plans. That means gradually adjusting activities, investments, and budgets to protect nature and make sure it can keep supporting us. This is especially important in industries with significant environmental impact, such as construction, agriculture, and energy.
In all this, governments have a huge role to play — a role that has become increasingly difficult as more politicians turn to populism. Still, the core responsibility of government remains: to safeguard the long-term freedom and prosperity of its citizens. To fulfill that promise, governments must look further ahead — and pass rules that protect our future, and that of our children.
Integrate Biodiversity in all Decision-Making
Ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes, poverty eradication strategies, strategic environmental assessments, environmental impact assessments and, as appropriate, national accounting, within and across all levels of government and across all sectors, in particular those with significant impacts on biodiversity, progressively aligning all relevant public and private activities, and fiscal and financial flows with the goals and targets of this framework.