ES in Business Sessions

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

The ES in Business sessions are 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 will be organised during the day. Several business representatives will share 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.

The objectives of these sessions are:

1. 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); 
2. Showcase projects of researchers who have been partnering with the private sector;
3. Contribute thinking to solutions to overcome the identified challenges businesses encounter to uptake and implement the concepts;
4. 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
5. 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.

ES in Business Session program

The program of the business sessions will be as follows:

10:30-12:00 ES in Business Session focused on the industry sector at large (Session S6a)

Session host: Inge Liekens (VITO, Belgium)

Co-hosts: Matt Smith (JNCC), Martine van Weelden (ESP)

In this session several speakers from the industry will share how they incorporate ES and Natural Capital in their business operations. A more detailed session program will follow soon.

Confirmed speakers

• Inez Goris, Environmental Affairs Manager, Sibelco Europe, 'Ecosystem services and the exploitation of quarries';
• Carolyn Jewell, Senior Manager Environmental Sustainability, Heidelberg Cement;
• Two more speakers are being approached and will be confirmed soon.

13:30-15:00 ES in Finance Session (Session S6b)

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

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

In this session several speakers from the industry will share how they incorporate ES and Natural Capital in finance. A more detailed session program will follow soon.

Confirmed speakers

• Katie Leach, Senior program officer, UNEP, presentation of ENCORE tool;
• More speakers are being approached and will be confirmed soon.

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

Session host:  Matt Smith (JNCC), Martine van Weelden (ESP)

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 ESP Roadmap for Business Engagement will be set up in order to sustain, improve and intensify science-business collaboration.

• How the ESP is advancing Ecosystem Services in Business (SWG6), Martine van Weelden, ESP Business Development Manager,
• Ecosystem Evidence and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration, Matt Smith, Ecosystems and Natural Capital Manager, Joint Nature Conservation Committee;
• Panel Discussion, Cross-sector round table to agree ESP Roadmap for Business Engagement;
• Wrap-up of session and final comments.

   

All the above sessions are open to any delegate interested in science-business collaboration and the implementation of Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital within businesses. However, the speakers will be invited on a personal note.