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The crucial question for our future is: How do we achieve a nature-based and nature-positive world?

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Conference

Business needs Nature

Towards a nature-positive Economy

We cordially invite to our upcoming event. Please use the form below to register. We look forward to seeing you.

The event will take place at the Senckenberg Research Institute and  Natural History Museum Frankfurt (see the map below), on November 29, 2022, from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m., and will be followed by a reception.

Commercial activities, from resource extraction to agriculture, contribute substantially to the ongoing destruction of nature. At the same time, the decline and irreversible loss of biodiversity leads to significant business risks. An increasing number of companies and the financial sector are therefore implementing strategies to reduce both their risks and negative impacts on nature. In doing so, they encounter data gaps, vague metrics, and a lack of coherent and effective regulatory frameworks and regulation. It is becoming ever more evident that a fundamental transformation of the relationship between business and nature is indisputable. 

Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt
November 29, 2022
6-7:30 p.m.

Please scroll down to register!

The Background

Nature and its rich biodiversity form the foundation of prosperity and human well-being. At the same time, we are exploiting our natural capital in an unprecedented way. The crucial question for our future is therefore: How do we achieve a nature-based and nature-positive world? Otherwise, we are running out of time, and the Anthropocene will be the shortest epoch in the history of the Earth. 

It is becoming ever more evident that a fundamental transformation of the relationship between business and nature is inevitable. Commercial activities, from resource extraction to agriculture, contribute substantially to the ongoing destruction of nature. At the same time, the decline and irreversible loss of biodiversity leads to significant business risks. An increasing number of companies and the financial sector are therefore implementing strategies to reduce both their own risks and negative impacts on nature. In doing so, they encounter data gaps, vague metrics, and a lack of coherent and effective regulatory frameworks and regulation.

In the spring of 2022, at a science conference in Berlin, we emphasized important policy actions that should be implemented nationally and internationally to sustain nature. More than 1700 scientists have signed our “Berlin Declaration,” demanding concrete political commitments (www.berliner-erklaerung.eu). 

The aim of our conference is to bring together high-level representatives from science, business, politics, and civil society to address the following key questions: 

·       How are nature and the economy intertwined?

·       What does a nature-positive economy look like?

·       What does business need to do to make a positive contribution to nature by 2030?

·       What is needed to implement good business practices at scale?

·       How can science, politics, and civil society facilitate business action on biodiversity?

Further details on this new cooperation will be announced in a “Frankfurt Declaration” on the day of the conference.

The conference, which is jointly organized by German science organizations and NGOs listed below, takes place one week prior to the beginning of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Part II) in Montreal, which aims to adopt a new policy framework for biodiversity. Our goal is to send a strong signal to Montreal that successful, nature-positive business is possible and that leading representatives of the foremost German natural and economic science community intend to break new ground to jointly remove key obstacles.

We look forward to your attendance.

Program

Download the program as a pdf-File.

Time Program item Participants
18:00 Welcome words and Introduction Moderation: Jörg Thadeusz
18:03 Setting the Scene The unprecedented erosion of biodiversity requires transformative actions to be agreed at COP15 Klement Tockner
(Director General, Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research)
 
Christof Schenck
(Director, Frankfurt Zoological Society)
18:13 Nature and the Economy Accepting the simple truth: Our economies are dependent on and embedded in Nature, not extraneous to it. (followed by short video statements) Sylvie Goulard
(Deputy Governor, Banque de France)
 
 Videostatements:
 
Achim Steiner (UNDP Administrator), Johan Rockström (Director PIK), Mia Amor Mottley (Prime Minister of Barbados), Stefan Wintels (CEO KfW), Nina Ruge (Partner UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration)
18:28 The Challenge for Business What is needed from the business sector to become nature-positive by 2030? Christoph Heinrich
(Director, WWF Germany) Videostatements:
 
Astrid Teckentrup (CEO DACH Procter & Gamble), Alexander Birken (CEO Otto Group), Rolf Buch (CEO Vonovia FE), Klaus Rosenfeld (CEO Scheffler AG), Walter Sinn (Managing Partner DACH Bain & Company)
18:40 Business and Biodiversity How companies can tackle the biodiversity challenge and bring good practices to scale. Lutz Diederichs
(CEO Germany, BNP Paribas)
 
Gabriele Hässig
(Managing Director Sustainability, Procter & Gamble )
 
Franziska Brantner
(Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection)
 
Christoph Heinrich
(Director, WWF Germany)
19:10 The Political Perspective How will Germany facilitate business action on biodiversity? Bettina Stark-Watzinger
(Federal Minister of Education and Research)
19:20 The Frankfurt Declaration A transformative collaboration is required to protect biodiversity and sustain human well-being. Tobias Raffel
(Executive Director, FUTURE Institute for Sustainable Transformation, ESMT, Berlin)
 
Bernhard Misof
(Director General, The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change)
19:25 Conclusion and Outlook Jan Pieter Krahnen
(Director, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE)

The Organization Team

With kind support from KfW Entwicklungsbank.

Register now!

The venue