Ecosystems services

Global ecosystems are under severe stress. Ecosystem degradation is highly relevant to business because companies not only impact ecosystems and the services they provide - such as water purification and supply, carbon sequestration and air purification - but they also depend on them.
Increasingly, competition for these diminishing resources is driving the emergence of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programmes, also known as "green" markets.

PES programmes offer payments to those who provide ecosystems services, conditional upon them exhibiting acceptable conservation performance. The past successes of carbon and other markets for environmental commodities (eg water, SO₂ and NO₂) have demonstrated the potential for using investment based solutions to internalise the external costs of pollution, natural resource exploitation, and unsustainable development.

We are a major user and owner of land, biodiversity and water resources. This can present significant risks to our operations when coupled with the changing ecosystem service legislative frameworks. Three of the most significant risks include biodiversity compensation (through offsetting), rights to access and use water, and mitigation and offsetting of our carbon emissions.  These present both financial and reputation threats but also opportunities for our operations.  Without a rigorous management process, the business risk we face will continue to grow significantly.