IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment – urgent need for academia, policy, industry, and the financial system to join forces

This seminar convenes leading experts from science, policy, and practice at a moment when biodiversity has decisively moved to the center of both environmental and security agendas. The session will spotlight the newly launched IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment (BBA), starting with IPBES Co-Chair Matt Jones Keynote speech and exploring how its key messages can drive action across policy, academia, and the private sector.

Building on this global momentum, developments in Sweden are unfolding rapidly. Recently, Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari, presented the updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), accompanied by a new assignment for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.  At the launch of the NBSAP, The Minister for Climate and the Environment also acknowledged the importance of research emerging from Mistra BIOPATH to move the research agenda forward. These national developments unfold in parallel with a rapidly expanding international recognition of biodiversity loss as a strategic risk: NATO and a recent UK assessment, developed with the Joint Intelligence Committee involving MI5 and MI6, warn that global ecosystem degradation threatens food security, geopolitical stability, and national resilience.

In this context, where biodiversity is increasingly framed not only as an environmental imperative but also as a societal and economic one, the seminar offers a timely and much needed platform to discuss how Sweden and Europe can accelerate progress toward a nature‑positive future. Lund University, recently recognised for having world‑leading sustainability research, provides an ideal platform for this dialogue. Discussions will span the science–policy interface with a focus on the key messages in the latest IPBES assessment, the roles of business and the financial system in safeguarding nature, and the contribution of cutting‑edge research to evidence‑based decision‑making in policy, industry, and the financial system.

The seminar panel includes:

• Matt Jones, Co-chair IPBES Business and Biodiversity Assessment Report, UNEP-WCMC
• Riyong Kim, Head of Environment and Sustainability, European Environment Agency (EEA)
• Thomas Lyrholm, Senior Advisor at the Nature Analysis Unit,  Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
• Camilla Johansson, Deputy Head of Group Sustainability, Svenska Handelsbanken
• Helle Herk-Hansen, Vice President Environment, Vattenfall
• Susanne Arvidsson, Director of Mistra BIOPATH and of SSCEN, Associate Professor at LUSEM

The seminar will close with a mingle outside the Crafoord Hall