Experts in biodiversity address the relevance of reversing its deterioration and the possibilities of creating sustainable economic models that defend it

Naturgy Foundation and the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome today organised the seminar “Conversations on biodiversity”, with the participation of Elena Pita, director of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), and Paloma Fra,  lawyer and European public funding specialist at Biocarbon Estates, a pioneering fund for climate change, ESG goals and biodiversity.

During their conversation, moderated by Belén Kayser, journalist and expert in sustainability, they reflected on the relevance of reversing biodiversity deterioration beyond combating climate change, as well as the possibilities of creating sustainable economic models that defend it.

“To assess how serious the loss of biodiversity is, you just need to consider that one million species are in danger of extinction out of a total of eight million”, said Ms Pita. “Direct causes are related to overexploitation of resources, pollution, proliferation of invasive species, deforestation, etc. But the reason behind these direct causes is that the production and consumption model is not sustainable. If we want to get to the root of the matter, we need a broad, complex response that involves all sectors of society.”

“It is necessary to address structural changes that do not just depend on the citizen. Changes that require us as a society, and involve changes in behaviour and the value system, hence their complexity”, stressed Pita.

Both experts stressed the importance of metrics so that methodologies and initiatives aimed at fighting against the loss of biodiversity can progress. Paloma Fra pointed out that, “measuring the economic impact of ecosystemic services is vital to be able to value nature-based solutions. Until we value them, it will be difficult to promote a change in the business model”. In the same vein, Elena Pita said that “there are methodological barriers related to metrics, which are becoming increasingly relevant. Sometimes initiatives do not work because it is difficult to find metrics and monitor them”.

Asked about the complexity of the challenge of reversing biodiversity deterioration, Ms Pita answered that “there are two ideas to consider: on one hand, the complexity of solutions given the complexity of the environmental challenges, and on the other, since environmental challenges affect us all, in addition to their complexity, they require negotiation between countries, making the governance structure complex”. She noted that we have progressed in the governance model, as reflected in European strategies. “Loss of biodiversity is global, with a complex and multilateral governance at different levels, such as the Kunming-Montreal global agreement, the European green deal and national plans.”

When debating the involvement of private companies, Ms Fra pointed out that, “private investment is necessary to extend solutions throughout the territory. The most experienced companies will want to report voluntarily as this will allow them to compare themselves with a homogeneous criterion. But this requires participation from a financial perspective. If companies cannot assess their efforts in this field, they will not be able to value it.”

Elena Pita referred to the different approaches among different sized companies. “There is a gap between large companies, where biodiversity issues have been internalised, and small and medium-sized enterprises, which are affected by this issue but with which we must still work to disseminate the discourse.” According to Paloma Fra, “we must be able to show small and medium-sized companies that the actions they take now will have a series of benefits in 50 years that will return to them, so they can also feel benefited.  We must establish a flow of resources among all agents so that all companies are in equal conditions regardless of their size”.

José Manuel Móran,Vice President of the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, closed the session by stating that, “although the environment is a phenomenon that was not spoken about a few years ago, today is a time of initiation in which companies are beginning to assess their impact on biodiversity as they must be aware to what extent they are contributing the disappearance of species. This moment forces us to move faster on the issue of biodiversity as the deterioration of nature has major impacts. For example, to what extent can we maintain 12% of our GDP based on tourism if tourists are already migrating north in search of better temperatures?”

During her opening speech, María Eugenia Coronado, managing director of the Naturgy Foundation, said that “with today’s session we wanted to recover an issue that sometimes seems to have been forgotten but requires the commitment of everyone as a society. We have data that can only lead us to take action, such as the fact that 3 billion people who inhabit the planet, that is 40%, are affected by the loss of biodiversity, which threatens ecosystems, food safety and human life.”

Naturgy’s commitment to biodiversity

Naturgy is committed to discussing biodiversity, natural capital and cultural heritage in the areas where it operates, paying special attention to protected spaces and species. Its principles of action include integrating biodiversity in the design and operation of projects to gradually reducing negative environmental impacts; preventing the alteration of plant life as much as possible, avoiding deforestation; and achieving zero net loss of biodiversity by promoting the net creation of natural capital whenever possible.

For this purpose, Naturgy develops biodiversity initiatives integrated with the core ideas of energy transition towards decarbonisation, climate, nature and people. Given that they are complementary and mutually influential realities, this approach has a holistic vision and focuses on the creation of natural capital and restoring ecosystem to maximise CO₂ capture and neutralisation of emissions, ensuring the protection of native flora and fauna, and maximising benefits for local communities.

In 2022 alone, the company developed 345 biodiversity initiatives, 20% of them voluntary, in addition to environmental restoration actions on 50 hectares, of which over 30% correspond to protected spaces, habitats or species.