ES in Business Session program

Ecosystem Service Research Application in Corporate Action: Increasing Impact, Unlocking Opportunity and Driving Innovation via the ESP Business Track

The ES in Business sessions were organised by the ESP Sectoral Working Group 6 ES in Business and part of the ES in Business day on Thursday 24 October.

Three distinct business sessions were organised during the day. Several business representatives shared their ecosystem services experiences from the perspective of their corporate practices, with the objective of stimulating the academic community to better understand what ecosystem services means to private sector stakeholders and how they can be part of the ongoing drive to incorporate the concept into corporate action.

ES in Business Session program

The program of the business sessions was as follows. Below you find an overview of the speakers per session. Download the detailed program overview including abstracts here.

10:30-12:00 ES in Finance Session (Session S6a)

Session host: Caroline van Leenders (The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), The Netherlands)

Co-hosts: Inge Liekens (VITO, Belgium), Matt Smith (JNCC, United Kingdom), Martine van Weelden (ESP, The Netherlands)

In this session several speakers from the industry shared how they incorporate ES and Natural Capital in finance.

Confirmed speakers

Katie Leach, Senior program officer, UNEP, presentation of ENCORE tool;
Roel Nozeman, Senior Advisor Biodiversity, ASN bank, The Netherlands;
Danijela Piljic, Strategy Advisor, DNB (DeNederlandscheBank), The Netherlands.

13:30-15:00 ES in Business Session focused on the industry sector at large (Session S6b)

Session host: Inge Liekens (VITO, Belgium)

Co-hosts: Matt Smith (JNCC, United Kingdom), Martine van Weelden (ESP, The Netherlands)

In this session several speakers from the industry shared how they incorporate ES and Natural Capital in their business operations.

Confirmed speakers

Johannes Knubben, Chief Agrarmanagement, HIPP; 'Environmental impact on the food supply chain: How HiPP manages the challenges'
Inez Goris, Environmental Affairs Manager, Sibelco Europe, 'Ecosystem services and the exploitation of quarries';
Carolyn Jewell, Senior Manager Environmental Sustainability, Heidelberg Cement, Quarry life award;
Pilar Gegúndez, Director of Environment and Resources Sustainability, LafargeHolcim and Jesús Carrasco, Project Manager, Ecoacsa, Spain.

16:30-18:00 Designing the ESP Roadmap for Business Engagement (Session S6c)

Session host: Matt Smith (JNCC, United Kingdom), Martine van Weelden (ESP, The Netherlands)

Co-hosts: Inge Liekens (VITO, Belgium), Caroline van Leenders (The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), The Netherlands)

Together with the speakers of the Business day and the audience a cross-sector set up the ESP Roadmap for Business Engagement in order to sustain, improve and intensify science-business collaboration.

How the ESP is advancing Ecosystem Services in Business (SWG6), Martine van Weelden, ESP Project & Business Development Manager;
Ecosystem Evidence and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration, Matt Smith, Ecosystems and Natural Capital Manager, Joint Nature Conservation Committee;
EKLIPSE networking activites, Tania Pereira, CIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto)
Integrating biodiversity and natural capital in business models, Mark van Oorschot, PBL (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency);
A true price for forests: investing in ecosystem services, Annerieke Sleurink/Alison von Ketteler, Business Development PES, Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC);
Round table discussion, cross-sectoral views to scope the ESP Roadmap for Business Engagement. Moderated by Matt Smith, JNCC;
Wrap-up of session and final comments, Martine van Weelden and Matt Smith.

All the above sessions were open to any delegate interested in science-business collaboration and the implementation of Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital within businesses.

Objectives business sessions

The objectives of these sessions were:

Showcase business cases which relate to natural capital and ecosystem services, and understand how the private sector are considering and implementing ecosystem services concept and identify challenges of implementation and barriers to uptake of the concept (to be presented by business representatives);
Showcase projects of researchers who have been partnering with the private sector;
Contribute thinking to solutions to overcome the identified challenges businesses encounter to uptake and implement the concepts;
Discuss and develop ideas on how to scale up science-business collaboration by identifying the types of projects and knowledge provision that helps to unlock opportunities and drive innovation; and
Discuss how the ESP community would like to shape the business track and future role of Sectoral Working Group 6: Ecosystem Services in Business for the benefit of researchers and the private sector users of knowledge.