Stopping nature loss – how the economy can help, too
Nearly two million animals and plants are threatened with extinction – with serious consequences for our future. In our new dossier we explore how our economic system must change – so that we do not keep taking more from nature than it is able to sustain.
The relationship between us humans and nature is a complicated one. Most of us find joy spending time in the forest, we enjoy walking over hill and dale and we love taking a refreshing dip in the sea on a sunny day. Even our default screen saver images of untouched natural beauty can prompt a gasp when they appear.Who wouldn’t like to get out and see these places right away? In short: we love nature – and we are part of it.
Microsoft screen saver
At the same time, we are destroying nature on an unprecedented scale. Nature has deteriorated on three-quarters of the land surface and along large parts of coastal areas – the result of intensive agriculture, urbanisation, aquaculture, mining and overfishing.
These all have a massive impact on habitats and indeed on entire ecosystems. The latest figures on species extinction are alarming. Well over a million animals and plants could become extinct in the next 10 years – significantly more than previously assumed.
Interdependencies between the economy and ecology
All of this has serious consequences for our lives – because we depend heavily on what nature provides: on raw materials such as wheat, corn and fishery products, on sand, wood and rare earths, but also on clean air and water, climate regulation and plant pollination. By living the way we do, we are literally sawing at the branch on which we sit.
Danger identified
It is now more commonly understood that we need to correct the course we are currently on. In this year's Global Risk Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), decision-makers from business and politics name climate and environmental risks as the greatest long-term risks –ahead of geopolitical changes or artificial intelligence.
Danger averted?
Are these findings now finally being followed up with concrete measures? For more than 30 years, there have been attempts by politicians to establish common rules and agreements that protect nature and biodiversity. As early as 1992, a convention for the protection of biodiversity was adopted for the first time in Rio, Brazil. However, these and subsequent agreements were never kept. They were not binding and ambitious enough.
Nature Conference 2022 – first ever global goal for nature
The Global Biodiversity Framework, which the international community agreed on in Montreal, Canada, at the end of 2022, is the first global goal for nature. Similar to the Paris Climate Agreement, it sets out concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 percent of the planet and 30 percent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030.
That’s all reason enough to take a closer look at the topic in our new dossier. We asked experts and practitioners how our economic system can and must change – so that we do not keep taking more from nature than it can provide. We also ask what role companies and banks can play and look into the current challenges – and explore viable solutions.
We spoke to Klement Tockner, President of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and member of Deutsche Bank's Nature Advisory Board, who emphasises how important it is for politicians to maintain the momentum and set the right incentives now so that “nature-positive” action is rewarded, for example in agriculture. Markus Müller (Deutsche Bank's Chief Investment Officer ESG) and Viktoriya Brand (Deutsche Bank's Head of Group Sustainability) explain what leverage private banks can have, especially in project financing for clients.
Gaining an overview with DNA analysis
How can research institutions, companies or banks find out what state nature and ecosystems are in in individual regions is or where there are biodiversity hotspots to take meaningful action or drive risk assessments? An important indicator is the number of organisms in a habitat over time. Determining this number is time-consuming and – given the size of our oceans alone – sometimes a barely viable undertaking.
Thanks to state-of-the-art research and technology, the environmental start-up NatureMetrics has now developed a method that makes it possible to obtain this overview based on DNA traces from soil and water samples.
Living roofs
One company that has been focusing on nature-friendly solutions since the early 70s is Optigrün, a pioneer of green roofs.
Our family has always been convinced of combining good construction technology and ecological ideas – even if we have only just come out of the 'weirdo's corner' with green roofs.
Together with partner companies, European market leader Optigrün installs more than 10,000 green roofs each year, all of which help to reduce heat, attract insects and store water at the same time.
Every square meter counts
We also asked our staff what they do to prevent species loss. A number of our colleagues answered, and it turns out we have people with allotments, those who plant up their balconies, a beekeeper, a pheasant breeder, a hedgehog rescuer, two part-time farmers to name but a few.
Regenerative agriculture in Malaysia
A story from Malaysia takes us from the more urban area to what used to be a rainforest. The indigenous people living in the state of Penang are actually hunter-gatherers whose livelihoods have been gradually destroyed. The bank’s partner and non-profit organisation Global Peace Foundation supports the inhabitants so that they can work their land according to the method of a Swiss scientist and farmer, who developed it after intensive research into the local primeval forests.
If you want to learn more how acting in harmony with nature is not only economically wise – but also leads to a more beautiful world worth living in, check out our dossier now.
Sonja Dammann
… has been working in the CSR and communications department of Deutsche Bank for more than 20 years. She prefers to spend her free time in nature – in the nearby forest, in the mountains or by the sea.
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