Simon NgandKatie Chan

Opinion | How Hong Kong can help businesses better contribute to biodiversity protection

Firms are realising the risks posed by climate inaction and seeing opportunities in integrating biodiversity into business models

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Hikers walk through Chinese silvergrass at Sunset Peak on Lantau Island in November last year. Hong Kong’s position as an international finance centre and its existing rich biodiversity knowledge base mean there is ample opportunity to integrate biodiversity considerations into development. Photo: Dickson Lee

Simon NgandKatie Chan

Published: 5:30am, 18 Aug 2024

Biodiversity and healthy, functioning ecosystems underpin the basic survival of life on Earth for both humans and the species with which we share the planet. Nature and its ecosystem services offer us critical resources and supply us with clean air, climate regulation, protection from flooding and crop pollination, among many other benefits.

Businesses are directly or indirectly dependent on these natural resources and ecosystem services to operate and generate economic value. More than half the world’s gross domestic product is estimated to be either moderately or highly dependent on nature and thus is exposed to risks from nature loss.

In the international arena, the United Nations’ latest biodiversity conference, COP15, and its resulting targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are a significant step up from preceding Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which failed to achieve any of their 20 commitments.

The framework, adopted in December 2022, places considerably stronger calls on implementing its agenda and emphasises the importance of multi-stakeholder participation to reach its goals. China has been highly active in this space, and its national biodiversity strategy and action plan reflects business’ role and contribution under its key priority actions.

The central government’s positioning signals Hong Kong should follow suit with its own city-level policy. The Hong Kong government is preparing a new Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan after its first one ended in 2021. The updated plan will align with national commitments and the global framework, which comprises 23 global targets aiming to halt and reverse nature loss by 2050.