Business and Biodiversity
Biodiversity risk now runs across supply chains, products, materials and operations. Build the skills to respond with confidence.
Enrollment
Your Faculty
Led by four expert practitioners bringing together corporate ESG depth, conservation science, forestry management, and policy implementation.
Shankar Venkateswaran
BRSR Committee | Ex-Tata Group
Shankar was the first head of sustainability at Tata Group and one of the architects of India's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) and the National Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct. He brings the regulatory intelligence and corporate depth that turns biodiversity from a compliance question into a business strategy.
Vivek Talwar
Sustainability & Culture | Ex-Tata Group
Vivek spent over two decades driving sustainability and organisational culture across Tata Group companies. He now leads CSCAPES, a centre of excellence in coastal and marine biodiversity conservation. A trained naturalist who has worked in wilderness ecosystems worldwide, Vivek connects field conservation directly to business decisions.
Dr N B Brindavanam
Biodiversity Expert | Ex-Dabur R&D
With over 30 years at the intersection of biodiversity, medicinal plants, and industry, Dr. Brindavanam has scaled medicinal plant species from forests to farms, holds five international patents, and has over 40 publications. He brings applied science and real industry experience.
Gurinderjit Singh Goraya, IFS
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
A distinguished Indian Forest Service officer of the 1983 batch, Dr. Goraya led biodiversity conservation and forestry research at the highest levels of government. He has served on the National Biodiversity Authority's Expert Panels and has had two plant species named in his honour.
Concept & Impact
Why This Matters Now
Biodiversity loss is accelerating, and the business consequences are no longer abstract. Regulations are tightening globally and in India. New disclosure frameworks now require companies to report on their relationship with nature. Investors are asking questions. Supply chain partners are setting expectations.
The Skills Gap It Closes
The knowledge and skills needed to understand biodiversity as a business issue sit in no single team. They need to be built across functions: sustainability and ESG, but also procurement, supply chain, product design, operations, waste management and leadership. This programme builds that capability.
What You Will Be Able To Do
By the end of the two intensive days, you will have built practical competencies to apply inside your organization:
Map biodiversity dependencies and impacts for a business and identify where material risks and opportunities sit.
Build the business case for biodiversity action using ecosystem services valuation.
Read and apply biodiversity regulatory and disclosure frameworks relevant to an organisation's sector.
Evaluate conservation options and identify credible, evidence-backed commitments for a given business context.
Apply an impact assessment approach to assess biodiversity impact and risk in a business operation.
Structure a biodiversity disclosure response and identify the gaps to close.
What You Leave With
This is not a theoretical session. You will build a comprehensive, custom-tailored **Biodiversity Business Toolkit** section by section:
Business Dependency Map
Maps how your operations depend on and affect biodiversity, and where material risks and opportunities sit.
Ecosystem Services Snapshot
Captures the ecosystem services relevant to your sector and their economic significance.
Regulatory Obligation Map
Identifies which biodiversity regulations and frameworks apply and what they require.
Conservation Action Options
Outlines conservation approaches your organisation can implement or support with evidence.
Impact and Risk Register
Documents biodiversity impacts and risks from your operations with a mitigation hierarchy.
Disclosure Readiness Checklist
Assesses readiness to disclose against key biodiversity reporting frameworks (TNFD, GRI 304, BRSR, CSRD).
The Course Modules
Six rigorous, interactive modules spread across two days.
Business and Biodiversity
Objective: Map biodiversity dependencies and impacts for a case organisation using a method you can apply to your own organisation.
Key Topics Covered
- •The value linkage between human society and biodiversity
- •Business and biodiversity: direct and indirect dependence and types of value to business
- •Understanding the materiality dimension of biodiversity for business
- •Business and biodiversity: risks and opportunities, and the impact of business on biodiversity
- •Biodiversity conservation by business: understanding techniques that work
- •Pitfalls and tips on biodiversity conservation
- •Biodiversity, CSR and sustainability: exploring the interconnectedness
- •Planning biodiversity conservation and measuring impact
- •Biodiversity beyond the fence: becoming a sector role model
Group Activity
Business Dependency Mapping (group). Teams are given a sector profile and map direct and indirect dependencies on biodiversity, the risks if those dependencies are disrupted, and nature-positive action opportunities.
Understanding Biodiversity
Objective: Use ecosystem services concepts to build the business case for a case organisation, and develop an approach you can apply in your own organisation.
Key Topics Covered
- •Definitions, scope and classification of biodiversity
- •Biodiversity hotspots and their significance
- •Concept of ecosystem services and evaluation
- •Social, cultural and aesthetic values of biodiversity
- •Economic value of biodiversity
- •Biodiversity and SDGs
- •Threats to biodiversity
- •Humankind and biodiversity: exploring interrelationships
Group Activity
Ecosystem Services Snapshot (group). Teams identify the top three ecosystem services their assigned sector depends on, estimate what disruption of each would cost the business, and document the evidence basis.
Regulatory Scenario
Objective: Identify which regulations and frameworks apply to a case organisation's sector and map its compliance obligations, using a method you can replicate for your own organisation.
Key Topics Covered
- •Historical aspects of regulating biodiversity (pre-read)
- •Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Ramsar Convention and CITES
- •Bonn Convention and Convention on Biological Diversity (pre-read)
- •Regulatory scenario in India: Biological Diversity Act 2002 as amended in 2023
- •Regulatory scenario in India: an overview of other related Acts
- •Role of international organisations: IUCN and UNEP
- •Practical examples by business
Group Activity
Regulatory Obligation Mapping (group). Teams identify which regulations apply to their case organisation, map the compliance obligations, and flag the key disclosure gap.
Conservation of Biodiversity
Objective: Evaluate and select conservation commitments for a case organisation, and develop an evidence and partnership assessment approach you can apply in your own organisation.
Key Topics Covered
- •An overview of conventional tools: in-situ conservation models
- •Ex-situ conservation of agricultural biodiversity
- •Technological tools for conservation
- •Role of international organisations: IUCN and UNEP (pre-read)
- •Business and conservation: opportunities for multi-partner initiatives
- •Practical examples of conservation by business
Group Activity
Conservation Action Options (group). Teams assess feasible and defensible approaches for their case organisation, identify two commitments with the evidence and partnerships each requires.
Who is this for?
- Sustainability and ESG managers and analysts
- Environment, health and safety (EHS) professionals
- CSR and social impact teams
- Procurement and supply chain managers with nature-linked sourcing exposure
- Product design and R&D professionals working with materials, ingredients or packaging
- Operations and manufacturing managers with land, water or waste dependencies
- Circular economy and waste management professionals
- Risk and compliance professionals
- Investor relations professionals working on ESG disclosure
- Professionals preparing biodiversity-related disclosures
Have Queries?
Have questions about the curriculum, custom/group corporate training, schedule, or fit for your career? We are here to help.