Biodiversity is finally getting attention in boardrooms and business schools—and that’s a good thing. But here’s the big question: Are we rethinking how business relates to nature or just creating another sustainability metric to tick a box? This article explores six critical challenges—from biodiversity measurement to innovation, public policy, interdisciplinarity, and even questioning our economic worldview. 

• Addressing biodiversity as more than an economic resource—by integrating ecological complexity and ethical considerations—can catalyze a necessary paradigm shift in sustainability practices.

• Public policy must transcend growth-centric and market-based mechanisms to embed biodiversity within institutional priorities, promoting genuine stewardship and long-term wellbeing for both people and nature.

• Meaningful progress on business-biodiversity relations requires moving beyond incremental reforms and measurement—forging a shift in academic, policy, and practical thinking, where innovation, collaboration, and deep cultural change help businesses interact with biodiversity as partners rather than just resource users.

"Business management scholarship therefore needs to rethink its simplistic approach of tailoring biodiversity to business strategies for disclosure and reporting and instead consider how business conceptualizes its relationship with nature, including a multi-dimensional measure of biodiversity," says Darnall. 

Read the full article.