Brief: Challenges and Opportunities for Corporate Investment in Nature-Based Solutions

Sustainability is playing an increasingly significant role in the corporate world, as businesses seek to balance economic growth with ecological and social responsibility. In recent years, the urgency of addressing climate change and environmental degradation has pushed companies to adopt more sustainable practices.

The use of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have the potential to contribute significantly to corporate sustainability goals. Yet, integration of sustainability into business models requires companies to navigate complex regulatory landscapes, such as the Corporate Reporting Directive (CSRD) mandating stricter Sustainability reporting for companies.

To explore the perspectives of the private sector, Invest4Nature has studied in depth the challenges, opportunities, and regulatory impacts of the CSRD through interviews and workshops with 49 companies.

The interviews have revealed significant variations in how businesses across different sectors and sizes experience EU sustainability regulations. While companies recognise the importance of sustainability, they face substantial barriers in implementing NbS due to unclear definitions, administrative burdens, and a lack of harmonised frameworks.

This brief presents insights from interviews with European companies examining their experience in integrating NbS into their practices and navigating the sustainability regulation landscape. It highlights:

• Profiles and quotes of companies interviewed
• Challenges faced by companies
• Policy recommendations to enhance support for companies to adopt NbS and comply with CSRD