More big companies commit to addressing environmental impacts

Some of the world's biggest private sector companies are committing to address their environmental impacts and factoring biodiversity into their sustainability reports, according to new Oxford University research. The perhaps surprising observation, comes as part of a new study conducted by researchers in Oxford's Department of Zoology, in collaboration with the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, which assessed the top 100 of the 2016 Fortune 500 Global companies' (the Fortune 100) sustainability reports, for the first time, including, Sainsbury's, Walmart and Apple. The findings published in Conservation Biology , sit as a direct contrast to UN experts previous description of big business as 'soulless corporations and a cancer on society,' and suggest that the private sector is taking note of the public's growing concerns around corporate responsibility for environmental issues, like plastics, marine pollution and deforestation. The study is the first of its kind, and offers a global snapshot of some of the biggest corporations around the world, across multiple sectors of large businesses, that publicly disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity. Understanding these varying levels of commitment will allow the team and others in the field to better work with these businesses to shape their biodiversity goals, help them be more effective in managing their impacts, and ultimately better protect the environment. Of the top Fortune 100 companies, 86 have publicly available sustainability reports.