Biodiversity conservation by Korean corporations towards nature-positive goals

Abstract

Overbalance of ecosystems triggers global biodiversity loss and threatens the sustainability of society by emerging financial risks from the disruption of ecosystem services. Several initiatives and international organizations have developed guidelines on biodiversity conservation to support the increasing demand for the disclosure of nature-positive business practices. However, corporations’ biodiversity-related performances have yet to undergo a comprehensive assessment, either quantitatively or qualitatively. Here we analyze the biodiversity conservation practices, or the evolution of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management, of the top 200 corporations by market capitalization in South Korea based on their sustainability reports published 2017–2021. We show that the number of corporations issuing sustainability reports doubled in five years, and over 70% issued sustainability reports in 2021. Based on the directionality of the COP15 agreement and the consistency with the targeted ecosystems, we identified that 22% of corporations report engagement with biodiversity conservation without substantive outcomes. The methodology developed can guide major corporations for biodiversity-related disclosures, including those required by the TNFD.