A plan to save UK nature is taking shape - businesses must get on board

The UK is often cited as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and nature is still in free-fall, with the wildlife and insects we have left declining rapidly – as they are globally.

Nature isn’t just a nice-to-have, it underpins everything, and its decline jeopardises business resilience and sustainability. The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Risks Report ranks nature loss, alongside climate change, among the top four global risks facing business over the next decade.

In the last few years, many UK businesses have experienced the financial impact on both their operations and supply chains from floods, droughts, disease outbreaks, soil health decline and air and water pollution. And these are only set to grow in the future.

This will have major implications on the UK’s economic growth prospects. Economic losses caused by continued stress on the natural environment in the coming decade are estimated to be far greater than economic gains from many of the Government’s current growth initiatives. Research shows that local chronic climate and nature risks could decrease UK GDP by 4.7% in the next decade. And under some scenarios the costs could be far greater.

Furthermore, nature risks directly jeopardise the Government’s growth plan. Water shortages, pollution and flood risks are hampering efforts to increase investment in energy, infrastructure and housing. Increased water stress in the UK is expected to reduce dependable thermal power capacity, which can use high volumes of freshwater, by about 50%, leading to an estimated additional £20-450 million per year in system costs. Over 6 million properties across the UK are currently at high risk of flooding and this is expected to rise to 8 million by 2050.

At the same time water quality is deteriorating rapidly with particularly serious impacts for the food production, tourism, hospitality and manufacturing sectors. And intensive agriculture practices are degrading the quality of soils in the UK, potentially costing the economy up to £1.4bn per year, while the resulting increased reliance on artificial fertilisers contributed to dramatic food price inflation in recent years.

The government’s revised Environmental Improvement Plan offers an opportunity to renew efforts to protect and restore UK nature, and businesses must play a key role, with the private sector critical in delivering nature-related targets.

WWF and the Green Finance Institute are setting up a process to develop Nature-Positive Transition Pathways (NPPs) for specific sectors of the economy, in partnership with Defra, businesses and financial institutions, to guide private sector action on nature in the UK in the same way that the net-zero transition pathways guide the decarbonisation of the UK economy. In fact, because of the inherent connections between them, these Nature-Positive Transition Pathways should be integrated with the net-zero pathways and explicitly consider the trade-offs between the objectives.

The development of Nature-Positive Transition Pathways already has the support of 26 businesses and business organisations including John Lewis, Sainsburys, NatWest, Balfour Beatty and Aviva, who have signed a statement backing their development. “We believe Nature-Positive Transition Pathways will provide critical evidence and understanding of the role of the private sector in meeting the UK’s nature-related targets,” the statement says.

“Pathways will help inform future UK policy to support the private sector’s transition. This would in turn provide the private sector with confidence to invest in the action required to avoid and reduce negative impacts on nature as well as restore nature. This will help unlock commercial opportunities associated with the UK’s nature-positive transition."

Businesses (and the UK economy as a whole) stand to benefit from investment into nature restoration and into new materials, technologies, and business models that reduce negative impacts on nature. This will improve resilience to climate and nature risks, but also improve productivity, reduce business costs, and lead to the development of new technologies, products and services that provide UK businesses a competitive edge in global markets. Indeed, a growing number of UK businesses are already investing in nature friendly approaches, and seeing financial benefits.

High-growth opportunities exist across every sector of the economy. Examples include: Recycling infrastructure to reduce resource extraction and improve resource efficiency; Low-water-use appliances; closed cycle and hybrid cooling systems that reduce the amount of water needed for cooling purposes in manufacturing and power generation plants; biodegradable or compostable packaging; bio-based fertilisers, plant-based proteins, and vertical farming; precision agriculture technologies such as soil sensors, remote sensing technologies, and drones, to monitor the performance of farms and automate tasks to reduce inputs and improve productivity.

Developing UK capabilities in the design, manufacture and use of these technologies will provide growing international market opportunities as exposure to nature risks increase across the world.

There is also potential for the UK to become a global leader in nature-related sustainable finance, developing innovative products to finance corporates’ nature transition plans such as sustainability-linked loans and bonds; natural capital investment funds; and blended finance vehicles, and associated data & metrics provision and trading infrastructure.

Including Nature-Positive Transition Pathways in the Environmental Improvement Plan will provide the clarity needed to underpin investment in the transition and set standards for what good looks like for different sectors. Clear goals and milestones will help ensure that the Government’s targets are delivered to the required timeframe.

A real plan to save UK nature must bring the private sector with it. The statement of support shows that many businesses want greater clarity around how they can contribute to the transition. Now we need more to come forward and play their part, and the UK government to recognise Nature Transition Pathways as a key part of their economic strategy.

First published in BusinessGreen on 19 June 2025: A plan to save UK nature is taking shape - businesses must get on board | BusinessGreen Opinion