When UN Biodiversity COP17 convenes in Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 to 30 October 2026, it will do so amid mounting pressure on the natural systems underpinning economies and societies.  

Nature and climate are deeply connected: forests absorbed 6 GtCO₂ in 2025, helping natural carbon sinks remove 40 percent of annual human-caused emissions. Yet climate change and anthropogenic pressure are eroding these systems. In 2026, wildfires damaged ecosystems across Europe, while catastrophic flooding in Nepal caused severe loss of life, widespread displacement, and infrastructure damage, highlighting growing risks to communities and ecosystems.  

These pressures can undermine landscape’s ability to provide the functions on which businesses depend on, with more than half of global GDP moderately or highly dependent on nature and its ecosystem services. Protecting and restoring nature can, in turn, support climate adaptation by strengthening water security, landscape resilience, and protection from physical climate impacts. 

As such for business, the question is increasingly not whether nature matters, but how to act at scale to preserve its functionality. Under the theme "Taking Action for Nature," COP17 will include the first global review of collective progress toward the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Yet its 2030 goals are not all within sight: around 20 percent of land and inland waters, and 10 percent of the ocean are currently designated for conservation, compared with the 30 percent target. 

With biodiversity finance, monitoring, and accountability high on the agenda, for companies that raises four practical questions: Is nature investable? How do we measure it in terms that finance teams understand? How should capital be allocated? And how will disclosure expectations converge? 

ERM's sessions at COP17 build on the four questions above. Please click here to see our program of events.

1. Demonstrating that nature is investable  

Capital still flows overwhelming toward activities that put pressure on nature. The UN Environment Programme’s “State of Finance for Nature 2026” reports around $7.3 trillion flowed to nature-negative activities in 2023, compared with $220 billion for nature-based solutions, of which only $23 billion came from private finance. Investment in nature-based solutions needs to increase to $571 billion a year by 2030 to meet biodiversity, climate, and land restoration targets. 

Investor interest, however, is growing. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) 2026 status report finds that 56 percent of investors are exploring or already deploying capital into nature-related opportunities, while 74 percent expect financing of these opportunities to grow two to five times over the next five years. The challenge is turning that appetite into investment by demonstrating how action on nature can protect and create business value.  

Part of that value comes from recognizing that climate and nature are interconnected. Healthy forests, soils, and oceans can absorb carbon while strengthening water security, supply-chains, and protection from physical climate impacts. Investing in nature can therefore support climate mitigation and adaptation alongside broader environmental and social outcomes. As outlined in ERM and WBCSD’s report, an integrated approach can help companies identify efficiencies and commercial opportunities, manage trade-offs, and give investors a more complete view of long-term value.  

The ERM-convened Council on Sustainability Transformation's whitepaper builds this investment case by showing how integrated action can reduce the costs of inaction and unlock opportunities for resilience and growth. While ERM’s recent podcast brings this into practice, exploring how companies can embed nature into supply chain, financial, and operational decisions to strengthen long-term resilience. 

To understand how companies can move from nature ambition to investable action, ERM is hosting the following event during COP17:  

2. Measuring nature and translating it into financial language 

Nature is complex to measure because impacts and dependencies vary by ecosystem, location, and sector. Companies are strengthening their ability to assess them: 76 percent of respondents to the TNFD’s 2026 survey have conducted or are currently undertaking a LEAP assessment. Advances in metrics, traceability, location-specific data, including the Nature Positive Initiative’s “State of Nature Indicators and Metrics”, are helping companies build a more detailed picture of their exposure and identify nature-related risks and opportunities more consistently. 

Measurement alone is not enough. Amid political and market volatility, companies face growing pressure to quantify sustainability’s business value to win executive and investor support. As ERM’s blog highlights, translating sustainability impacts into financial terms can help initiatives compete for capital and create a common language between sustainability teams, executives, and investors. For nature, that means connecting ecological information to business impacts such as costs, risks, resilience, and opportunities for value creation and protection. 

ERM's partnership with Natcap demonstrates how companies can make that connection in practice. The partnership combines Natcap's peer-reviewed ecosystem-service models and location-specific data with ERM's strategy and implementation expertise to help companies turn assessment into action. For a global consumer goods manufacturer, Natcap created dependency models for soil health, pollination, and water, while ERM translated the results into TNFD-ready disclosures and supplier segmentation, providing a science-based view of nature-related risks across priority commodities and a roadmap for supply chain interventions. 

Learn more about how scientific evidence on nature can be translated into business and investment decisions during COP17 event: 

3. Capital allocation: valuing nature through natural capital accounting 

While private finance for nature remains far below the level needed, there are signs of growing investor interest. An analysis from The Nature Conservancy found that annual private investment in nature increased from $2.8 billion in 2016 to more than $14 billion in 2025, with over $180 billion in private capital targeted for the years ahead. Yet directing capital effectively requires investors and businesses to better understand the value nature provides and how nature-related risks and opportunities affect investment decisions. 

Natural capital accounting can make nature’s value more visible in business and investment decisions. A global 2026 study found that 40 percent of surveyed companies said investors consider nature risks, although fewer than 25 percent believed investors assess how these risks affect cash flows or the cost of capital. Momentum is also building at the policy level: in August 2026, Canada established an Expert Taskforce to advance natural capital accounting and mobilize nature finance.  

For businesses, better information on natural capital can support decisions about assets, investment priorities, and long-term resilience. ERM’s podcast illustrates this in practice, exploring how valuing natural assets and ecosystem dependencies can inform infrastructure planning and investment.  

At COP17, ERM will explore how natural capital accounting can support investment decisions and capital allocation at the following events: 

  • Natural Capital Value for Better Capital Allocation (23 October, 2:00 – 2:45 pm) in the Business & Biodiversity Hub, in collaboration with Natural Capital Alliance from Stanford University  
  • Biodiversity, Water, Soils, and Health: Delivering on the Nexus to Accelerate Progress on Targets 8, 10 and 15 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (23 October, 5:00 – 5:45 pm) in the Blue Zone – UNEP Biodiversity & Business Hub 

4. The evolution of disclosures and interoperability  

Nature disclosure is scaling quickly. More than 1,000 organizations across 56 countries have now published TNFD-aligned disclosures, twice as many as in 2025. A further 802 organizations have committed to reporting in line with the TNFD recommendation, including financial institutions managing $26.6 trillion in assets. The next milestone arrives during COP17 as the International Sustainability Standards Board will launch an exposure draft of a Practice Statement on nature-related disclosures, building on the TNFD and IFRS S1, with a 120-day consultation ending Feb. 19, 2027. 

As nature-related disclosure matures, the challenge for companies is not simply generating more data but understanding how to get benefits and insights from these data and make them work across different frameworks. Greater interoperability reduces duplication and helps connect nature assessment, target-setting, disclosure, and implementation. Clearer alignment between frameworks can help companies move from ambition to action without collecting similar information separately for each initiative.  

ERM will co-host with the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and TNFD, the SBTN-TNFD Interoperability Tool Beta Working Session. The working session will examine how greater interoperability can connect nature-related assessment, disclosure, and action: 

  • SBTN–TNFD–ERM Working Session (24 October; 09:00 – 10:15 am) in the TNFD Hive 

COP17 offers an opportunity to turn growing momentum on nature into practical business action. Nature is not only an asset, but a complex infrastructure that sustains value chains and supports businesses’ long-term resilience. Nature functions as an interconnected system and therefore requires a systemic approach and collective effort.  

At ERM, we believe nature is closely embedded in the value of our client’s businesses and value chains. In Yerevan, we look forward to exchanging ideas on how to accelerate progress and build more resilient businesses alongside a nature-positive future. Our events and working sessions are designed to facilitate cross-industry collaboration and help achieve the collective outcomes that a complex system require.