Last week, the World Economic Forum convened leaders from business, government and academia to discuss solutions to society’s biggest challenges. The annual Davos meeting provides insight into some of the key ideas that will shape the year ahead, and in today’s episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we bring you on-the-ground interviews about one of the biggest topics on the agenda — the importance of nature.

WEF’s Global Risks Report, released right before Davos, found that biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and natural resource shortages are among the top risks facing the world over the next decade.

To learn more, we sit down with Akanksha Khatri, the World Economic Forum’s Head of Nature and Biodiversity.

"The economic case of why nature matters has been made," Akanksha tells us. "What we are missing today is the business case at the individual unit level, and that's what we are trying to do through the work we are leading on sector transitions to nature positive."

We hear the company perspective on the importance of nature from Sarah Chapman, Global Chief Sustainability Officer at insurance and financial services company Manulife. Sarah describes Manulife Investment Management as the largest institutional manager of timberland in the world and the second-largest institutional manager of agriculture.

And we sit down with Erika Thompson, a beekeeper known for her huge social media following under the handle @texasbeeworks, where she does live beehive removal and educates her millions of followers on the importance of bees in biodiversity and food systems.

Listen to our episode about the how AI became the buzzword at Davos: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/how-ai-became-the-buzzword-at-davos

Listen to our coverage of COP15, the UN’s 2022 conference on biodiversity: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/on-the-ground-at-cop15-how-business-is-getting-to-grips-with-biodiversity

Read about the sustainability trends S&P Global is watching in 2024: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/key-2024-sustainability-trends-driving-the-year-ahead

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.

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