Global professional services provider PwC announced today a series of initiatives aimed at boosting its global nature and biodiversity capabilities, including plans to launch a new Centre for Nature Positive Business, double the size of its team of nature specialists over the next 12 months, and upskill all 328,000 employees to better understand nature impacts and to work with clients on nature-positive outcomes.

The new initiative follows PwC’s launch in 2021 of its global strategy, “The New Equation,” with plans to invest $12 billion over five years, with ESG as one of the key focus areas for investment, and a target for ESG revenues to grow ten-fold over the next four years.

According to PwC, the new Centre for Nature Positive Business will bring together and expand its key global capabilities in areas including biodiversity, water, regenerative agriculture and forestry, with more than 500 nature specialists – and plans to expand to 1,000 – from across the firm’s network focused on topics including nature positive strategy and transformation, nature risk management and reporting, nature technology, data and measurement, and nature finance and fund management.

PwC said that it will also offer nature and biodiversity training to its global workforce, including bespoke online learning through its global Sustainability Academy.

Emma Cox, PwC’s Global Climate Leader, PwC UK, concluded:

“Climate change and nature are inextricably linked, and as the challenges facing the environment continue to rise, so too will the impacts felt by ecosystems around the world. By boosting our capabilities to help clients develop and implement nature positive strategies as part of their broader sustainability strategies, we will help a growing number of businesses transform their operating models, and in doing so, help to build a net zero, nature positive world.”

In its own business, PwC said that it has launched an assessment to identify which of its offices are in or adjacent to key biodiversity areas, and that it is currently undergoing an assessment to identify nature-related impacts in its supply chain.

Alongside the launch of the new initiatives, PwC released a new report, “Managing nature risks: From understanding to action,” including research indicating that 55% of global GDP, equivalent to approximately $58 trillion, is moderately or highly dependent on nature and exposed to material nature risk, up from $44 trillion in 2020.

Will Jackson-Moore, PwC’s Global Sustainability Leader, PwC UK, said:

“Of the 163 economic sectors analysed by PwC, all of them have a portion of their value chain that is highly dependent on nature. The imperative is clear: if organisations are to mitigate their impacts on nature, manage the risks and deliver sustained outcomes – not just for their operations but our planet and society-at-large – they need to transform their business models now. We’re committed to helping our clients on that journey.”