“Companies in the region are becoming increasingly aware that protecting nature is directly tied to resilience and profitability”

Andrea Pradilla , Director of GRI Latam, reflected on the outcomes of COP16 at the ESG Insider podcast hosted by S&P Global Sustainable1

Looking back at key moments in the sustainability landscape in 2024, COP16, the global biodiversity conference that took place in Cali, Colombia during October, presented opportunities to place biodiversity on the agenda, while also highlighting significant challenges that need to be addressed.?

Andrea Pradilla, Director of GRI Latin America, was a guest of S&P Global’s ESG Insider podcast on an episode about the takeaways from COP16. Learn more about her reflections on the reporting landscape in Latin America and the role of corporate transparency in protecting biodiversity, and click here to listen to the interview.

The challenges of biodiversity impact reporting?

To us, COP16 was a key opportunity to encourage organizational transparency through?GRI 101, the new Topic Standard for Biodiversity.?Through this Standard, GRI seeks to provide a path that companies can follow to start taking care of biodiversity-related impacts, and to be able to provide data and disclosures relevant for stakeholders and investors.?

One of the main challenges that stood out from COP16 discussions was that the topic of biodiversity is more complex than companies would expect, so it requires a good governance structure to be able to set the stage to have those conversations in the first place.?

Companies also need to be able to identify dependencies and impacts: that is, how they are impacting biodiversity, but at the same time what sort of products or services in the company depend on a good use of biodiversity and nature. And being able to address that and put it into words is a challenge. The main thing that came from their responses is the importance of learning by doing and taking advantage of pilot programs, like the GRI Community Biodiversity pilot, in which 14 multinational companies explored how GRI 101 can be used for materiality assessment, to set and monitor biodiversity targets and take actions on the ground, and understand synergies with the TNFD.??

Another key challenge is being able to organize and make sense of a large amount of available data. That’s when technology and AI come into place as a solution, but this is still in the early stages.?

Advancing transparency in Latin America?

Something that called my attention in this COP was that you’d see CEOs from all main Latin American companies not just speaking at panels, but also staying through the entire event and taking notes. To me this was a major signal of their awareness of how much they need to learn about this topic.?

In our region we are at a unique crossroads when it comes to corporate sustainability. According to an S&P study, Colombia was the global leader in corporate commitments on biodiversity and deforestation. We are also one of the most biodiverse regions in the world: we have lots of ecosystems that support not only local economy, but global environmental stability, like the Amazon. Companies in the region are increasingly aware that protecting nature is directly tied to resilience and profitability.??

In GRI Latin America we recently conducted an analysis on listed companies in Colombia, Peru and Chile, and found that 88% of companies mention biodiversity in their reports. But, when you see it in detail, there are low levels of maturity when it comes to commitment. I do think COP will support the fact that we will see it more in reports, but the challenge will be to see to what extent that translates to new objectives, goals and new understanding of the business contribution to biodiversity, and how that translates into risks or opportunities for companies.?

Overall, I’m thrilled to see Latin America leading transparency efforts, but I think companies need to be more mature when it comes to commitments. It’s a process, like it was with climate change, but at least in Latin America biodiversity isn’t just a checkbox: it should be the bedrock of our region’s resilience and economic wellbeing.?

Main takeaways from COP16 discussions?

You sometimes wonder whether to go to these conferences, and there are lots of criticisms around them, but I think they represent a unique opportunity to bring all of the actors together, launch the conversations we should be having, and also trigger new ones.?

Private sector representatives said it almost feels like there are 2 separate channels, one for climate and one for biodiversity, and no one is really connecting the dots. I think that nexus between climate and biodiversity was one of the main things that came out from companies in terms of requests, and this will need to be addressed by standard setters and by policy makers. Companies need to have a structured approach to nature, and it can’t be divided.?

Another thing that came up very strongly was the need to talk about the social component of nature and biodiversity. In one of the panels that I moderated, I asked the companies what they would expect their sustainability reporting to look like a year from now. And they brought up their willingness to see more local community voices in biodiversity reporting and strategy discussions. There is no biodiversity strategy if you don’t consider the local communities that will have to implement whatever strategy you put into place.??

I also found it to be quite successful to see the investor side so committed in terms of the need to create new things to be able to support biodiversity conservation projects and ideas. There was really a sentiment and a commitment in terms of how we can come up with metrics, standards and frameworks that really support this goal of reversing biodiversity loss.?

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