This Summit built on the success of last year's event, which was widely regarded as providing a valuable forum which helped financial institutions and corporates gain a much better understanding of the steps they should be taking in terms of their impact on nature.

The third edition was very timely as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures has now published its final recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure. The summit provided an excellent opportunity to analyse their implications for corporates and financial institutions in depth.

The planet is now facing its sixth mass extinction, with consequences that will affect all life on Earth.  Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. The BBC recently reported that, since 1970, there has been on average almost a 70% decline in the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. It is thought that one million animal and plant species - almost a quarter of the global total - are threatened with extinction. This contrasts with a biodiversity retention rate of 90% that is considered as being the "safe limit" to prevent the world from tipping into an "ecological meltdown", according to researchers.

City & Financial’s timely summit, ‘The Biodiversity and Nature Markets Summit 2023: A Practical Guide for Corporates and Financial Institutions’, analysed the key issues involved in the round and provided practical guidance on the steps that organisations should be taking now.

This Summit came at a crucial time with companies coming under increasing pressure to identify, manage and report on nature-related risks and opportunities. This summit assessed in detail the challenges companies face in reporting on biodiversity, analyse the tools and methodologies available to assist in the process and discuss the regulatory future of this type of reporting.