Managing and accounting for corporate biodiversity contributions: mapping the field

Biodiversity loss has been assessed by natural scientists as the key sustainability problem where planetary boundaries are exceeded most dramatically. In contrast to these findings, surveys among companies find that biodiversity receives least priority among all sustainability issues. This raises the question about barriers for corporate biodiversity management, available accounting and management approaches and the role of research to overcome these barriers as well as to motivate managers and enable change. This conceptual paper maps biodiversity management as an emerging research field and highlights the importance of management accounting to support effective corporate biodiversity management. We propose a framework for managers to assess what their impact is on biodiversity and what the impact is of biodiversity on their businesses. The framework helps managers to identify how their businesses are impacted by biodiversity and how they can contribute to stopping biodiversity loss and to regenerating biodiversity. The paper discusses key levers for corporate biodiversity contributions and deducts conclusions for research and practice.