What the Nature Positive movement can learn from artist Claude Monet

The term 'nature positive' is gaining traction in the corporate world and across the public sector. But what does it mean - and how can it make a meaningful contribution to our world??

When Claude Monet first exhibited his painting 'Impression, soleil levant' in 1874, it coined the term 'Impressionism'. The impressionist movement and Monet's own style underwent many changes over time. His later works are often large canvases, and they consist of a myriad of small dots: when seen up close, paintings like 'The Water Lilies' don't depict anything recognizable. Monet painted the same sceneries over and over again, in different settings of light, at different times of day, and throughout different seasons.

Like an impressionist painting, the term 'nature positive' only makes sense if it becomes more than the sum of its parts across a large political and economic canvas: a country, a region, and the world. Being 'nature positive' as a person, or as a company or even as a city or local government cannot stand alone, because despite local actions, nature loss could continue at the ecosystem or biome level. Yet, just like the brush strokes of 'The Water Lilies', every individual effort is needed and must be aligned to produce the intended overall result. We all depend on nature – and 'nature positive' must be a collective and coordinated effort!

At Salesforce, we are currently assessing our impact and dependencies on biodiversity across our company to learn how we can contribute to a nature positive world. We want to know what our ecological footprint is, how we can minimize it, and how we can invest in conserving and restoring nature more than we harm or degrade her. For more impact, we hope to be joined on the nature positive journey by many other companies, and most importantly, we need governments to set a new global framework for nature which will guide all 'nature positive' actions and commitments globally. The political 'Paris moment for Nature' which we urgently need in December this year in Montreal, Canada, will provide the global policy canvas on which individual and corporate actions will be painted. Many governments are not yet stepping up to brush. They should! Climate action failure, extreme weather and biodiversity loss now rank as the top 3 global risks. Climate change and nature are inextricably linked, and reversing nature loss would achieve benefits well beyond climate action.

Nature is in constant flux, and 'nature positive' is not an end goal. It is a process that requires continuous action, learning, and adjustment. Defining a clear starting point and baseline, and a clear set of indicators will tell all of us if we are moving forward or backward on the 'nature positive/negative' spectrum. This clarity of commitments and reporting will be essential before companies can make meaningful public pledges towards 'nature positive'. Fortunately, there are now thousands of experts working across many different scientific and technical fields throughout many organizations to define the underlying metrics that will drive the nature positive movement during this UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. The Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) and the Science-based Targets Network are two of the leading think tanks that can guide corporate action. TNFD now has a pilot approach ready for testing. For a corporate commitment to be both meaningful and impactful, it has to be expressed and embedded in the context of the larger global movement and the political enabling environment to reverse nature loss, including setting the right fiscal incentives. We need systemic change, and Salesforce's new Nature Policy Priorities advocate for a clear and strong regulatory framework for nature, including mandatory disclosure of nature impacts. The timing of a corporate 'nature positive' commitment is as important as the right metrics - the new global nature framework emerging in December this year will be the starting signal to pledge corporate support to a global effort.

Companies like Salesforce can contribute in several meaningful ways to a nature positive world: through internal reductions of our direct and indirect nature footprint, and through education, advocacy, and investments. A first step is an assessment of impacts and dependencies on nature. Part of the difficulty in measuring commitments at the individual company level lies in the complexity of biodiversity. It is difficult and can be costly to monitor at the species level, let alone at the level of genetic diversity (though technology is fast improving on both). The health and population of species also depend on larger factors at the ecosystem or biome level, or on global factors such as ecological tipping points triggered by climate change. Therefore an individual company's commitment must be linked to a larger context. Beyond direct corporate actions, both carbon neutrality and 'nature positive' are mindset shifts that must guide future corporate decision-making. In many ways a nature positive economy is the opposite of our current extractive and often destructive way of doing business. Since 1990, the world has used up 40% of our natural capital per capita, such as forests, fish or clean water. Over 60% of all wildlife populations have been lost since the 1970s. And over a quarter of the land on Earth is now so degraded that the soils cannot grow food. At this pace of being 'nature negative', we will soon overshoot our Planet's carrying capacity for humanity and crash into the 'Planetary boundaries'.

Luckily, we have the knowledge, the technology, and the finance to turn this trend around. By merely tripling nature investments to around US$400 Billion per year by 2030, or less than 0.5% (!) of global GDP, we could already make a large difference. This investment could easily be made available by transforming fiscal incentives from being destructive or extractive to regenerative, and by creating new private and public sector investment opportunities in nature conservation and restoration – for example through the Voluntary Carbon Market, and through large infrastructure projects using nature-based solutions. This would create tens of millions of green jobs worldwide, including in the global South. The global 'ecopreneur revolution' that will trigger this shift is already in full swing - and it needs every young or young-at-heart entrepreneur to make a just transition to a net zero, nature positive world! This is the largest business opportunity humanity has ever faced.

At Dreamforce 2022, Salesforce Chairman and Co-CEO Marc Benioff called for a just transition to a net zero, nature positive world. We are inviting all of our customers and our ecosystem of partners to join us on this ongoing learning journey, linking nature and climate action. Let us all be part of a meaningful 'nature positive' movement, alongside the Race to Zero that triggered the 'net zero' movement. We can learn important lessons from the 'net zero' movement: we need to all work together, across governments, civil society and business, and we need clear commitments and measurable actions. We will work together with 1t.org, Business for Nature, and We Mean Business and other partners to ensure we collectively have the momentum to make a large, nature positive change in the world. Just like net zero, the nature positive movement will only succeed as a global, collective and coordinated effort.?