The world is recognising that biodiversity loss is bad for business as companies commit to understand and mitigate their impact on nature.

Yet, despite acknowledgement that over 100% of the world’s GDP (every business in every sector) is dependent on nature we are yet to see companies moving from awareness to action, with measurement remaining the status for most businesses and many questioning what it will take to kickstart the burgeoning biodiversity market.

We sat down with world leading expert Guy Williams to understand why this is the case and unpack what he’s hearing from business leaders on the front line.

What is a market for nature?

There’s so much discussion (and often confusion) around what it means to be nature-positive, but as Guy explains nearly every business is currently nature negative and action is more urgent than ever.

He states that we need to move beyond the notion that nature action is only ‘for the fortunate’ and rather realise that it is the only way that these companies will survive, and that their sustainability and the society that dependent on them needs this to occur quickly as we don’t have time to wait.

He invites businesses leaders to “imagine if” nature was truly valued and believes once this occurs it will be the key to unlocking the nature markets which are estimated to be worth over 50bn in the years to come.

What is holding businesses back from taking action on nature?

For years, companies have acknowledged the importance of biodiversity and are building a deeper understanding of the way nature underpins economies, supply chains, and the communities they work with.

Yet, despite this awareness, meaningful action remains slow. Why?

Businesses face a range of barriers that can make nature action overwhelming, with Guy revealing some of the main challenges he’s hearing from leaders that ultimately fall into three main categories: complexity, competing priorities, and uncertainty about return on investment.

Nature is messy

Guy believes we need to accept and embrace the fact that nature is inherently complex.

Unlike carbon markets, which deal with a relatively straightforward unit of measurement (CO2), biodiversity encompasses entire ecosystems, species interactions, and geographical nuances which can often leave businesses feeling overwhelmed by the need for detailed data, metrics, and risk assessments before they feel comfortable committing to action.

For many companies the pursuit of perfect data can be perceived as a prerequisite for meaningul action, but Guy is quickly to point out that ‘nature is never done’ and that waiting for this work to be complete is not only unnecessary but impractical, and that in fact many companies already the data they need to act today.

Part of the challenge for many businesses lies in the way they’ve interpreting frameworks like the Taskforce for Nature Related Disclosures and viewing these tools as a linear process, rather than seeing that these stages are designed to be tackled simultaneously.

Guy states that many complex businesses would know with complete certainty about 70% of their impact on nature and should consider this more than adequote to progress to action – rather than waiting until they every last dependency measured as this is simply not how these tools were designed to be implemented.

This misinterpretation is leading to companies delaying action and frankly our world can’t afford to continue on this path.

“‘Should I take action now or can I delay it until later?’ The answer is clear: we cannot wait. Pretty much every business is nature-negative at the moment. The shift required is not a small adjustment—it’s a fundamental transformation. A minor course correction still leads straight to the iceberg.”

For many executives, however, biodiversity often becomes a “later problem” with their already full plate consisting of climate targets, ESG reporting, social impact initiatives and making a battle for budget a challenge for those wanting to make change.

However, Guy points out the irony is that nature action isn’t separate from these concerns, but rather it’s deeply intertwined and businesses that ignore nature risk supply chain disruptions, regulatory pressures, and reputational damage.

This recognition is critical to challenging the perception that the business case for biodiversity isn’t there and is a key “changing the narrative that acting on nature is a cost rather than an opportunity.“

Are there biodiversity protection projects ready for companies to invest in?

Wilderlands have become a global leader in the biodiversity credit market selling over 250,000 units in under three years, but as Guy explains the supply side of the market is still missing the type of scale projects that complex companies require to make significant investment.

“So, when I speak to the leaders of businesses ready to take action on nature it’s mature market-ready, high quality at scale biodiversity projects that are missing from the market.”

It’s the projects that are designed from the ground-up to match the needs of these organisations and open the door to investment in nature alongside other commodities, and activate a real market for nature  – “that’s the gap I’m seeing ” – said Guy.

Guy teams up with Wilderlands to launch new nature division

After working with businesses leaders and building a deep understanding of these challenge, Guy has now teamed up with Wilderlands to launch a solution, leading a new nature division dedicated to developing protection projects to meet the specific needs of large enterprise partners.

As he reveals below, this division will focus on delivering at-scale, bespoke projects providing opportunity for co-investment alongside major partners to maximise impact, whilst reducing the risk of backing biodiversity projects alone.

Over the past few months he has been meeting with leaders from large corporations, nationally and internationally, to launch a new pilot providing the opportunity for a handful of select companies to invest in a suite of projects spread across the country.

With over 20 years working at the forefront of biodiversity and natural capital innovation, there are few people on the planet as qualified to develop this new solution as Guy.

In recent years, he’s helped develop nature-related frameworks like the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) and SBTN (Science-Based Targets Network) as well as advising businesses on nature strategy and developing leading reports on biodiversity markets and forecasts in his roles with Deloitte and most recently as Executive Director at Pollination.

To learn more about his vision and discuss opportunities to be part of this coalition pilot, connect directly with Guy today.