Lead

Overview

Corporate leadership on nature is essential for transitioning to a sustainable economy. The accelerating loss of nature presents a systemic risk to the global economy. As nature becomes central to corporate strategy and stakeholder expectations, businesses have a critical role to play – not only in managing their own impacts and dependencies, but in leading change across sectors and systems.

This stage sets out how businesses can lead on nature-related action – moving from reactive compliance to proactive leadership and influence. Strong leadership can inspire others, shaping future markets, and accelerate collective impact. 

Nature-related action must be embedded into governance, culture, and decision-making to align business goals with meaningful action on nature.

Taking action on nature is not linear. It requires ongoing consideration of a business’s impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities. As new solutions emerge, so do new opportunities for action.

Business leadership matters

Inspire others

Visible leadership builds momentum. When leading companies act, they show that change is possible – shifting mindsets across value chains, sectors and locations. 

Engage and support

As large companies consider their indirect impacts and dependencies, they need to engage with stakeholders to provide leadership and build capability across their value chains.

Influence and shape markets

Integrating nature into business models and decision making is not just about risk – it’s also innovation and opportunity. Private sector action on nature signals to policymakers that the market is ready for nature-related regulation. Early movers on nature will define competitive advantage. 

Accelerate collective action

Nature challenges – like freshwater degradation, deforestation, and biodiversity loss – cannot be solved by one company alone. Business leadership is key to driving collective responses and system-wide solutions. 

Tackle systemic barriers

Nature loss is a systemic challenge that requires systemic solutions. Business leadership can:

• address data limitations – investing in data systems and sharing insights to improve decision-making across sectors
• support financial reforms that value nature in economic decisions.

How businesses can lead on nature

Lead from within 

Internal leadership is the foundation of credible and sustained action on nature. This includes:

• Board-level accountability for nature-related risks and opportunities
• Integrating nature into business goals and core strategy – not just sustainability teams
• Building a culture that sees nature as essential to success
• Embedding nature into decision-making through data, reporting, KPIs and incentives

Collaborate and partner 

Join or create partnerships to address shared challenges and opportunities. Consider joining Australian or international initiatives that support business leadership on nature, including:

• Nature Positive Matters – Join our cross-sector network to support and build Australian nature-related action.
• UN Global Compact Network Australia(Opens in a new tab/window) – Part of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. It helps businesses align their strategies and operations with the Ten Principles(Opens in a new tab/window) on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take strategic actions to advance societal goals, emphasising collaboration and innovation.
• It's Now for Nature(Opens in a new tab/window) – A global campaign led by Business for Nature encouraging all businesses to take action on nature. You could consider signing the Nature is everyone’s business(Opens in a new tab/window) call to action.

Engage in place-based actions. Build genuine community engagement and partnerships where the business operates to strengthen trust and outcomes. 

Share knowledge

Be open about the business’s successes and the challenges. Sharing lessons, tools and innovations helps others and accelerates collective progress.

Make public commitments and disclosures

Set credible, time-bound targets aligned with frameworks like:

• Science Based Targets for Nature(Opens in a new tab/window)
• Global Biodiversity Framework(Opens in a new tab/window).

Publicly share the business’s nature strategy including its commitments and targets for nature. Voluntarily commit to nature-related financial disclosures and reporting. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework supports iterative disclosure reporting – businesses can start by disclosing on a few of the recommendations and build on disclosures overtime. Start small and build over time – getting started matters.

Engage in policy

Support policies that increase financial flows to activities that support a resilient and sustainable future. This can demonstrate that a business is ready for regulation that supports nature-related action. Regulation ensures comparable and consistent flows of information, leveling the playing field.

Embrace continuous learning

Embedding nature into business models requires open, adaptive thinking.