The legal opinion by Chapman Tripp for the sustainable finance group, the Aotearoa Circle, says business directors, especially in the primary industries, need to plan for nature-based risks, such as mānuka honey exports being hit by declining bee populations. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Business directors are being warned to take stock of their company's environmental risks to keep up with changing consumer behaviour.
A new legal opinion by Chapman Tripp for the sustainable finance group, the Aotearoa Circle, says biosecurity risks are leading to rules requiring businesses to be more sustainable and transparent about their supply chains.
It says directors, especially in the primary industries, need to plan for nature-based risks, such as mānuka honey exports being hit by declining bee populations.
Chapman Tripp Partner and opinion co-author Nicola Swan said exporters had an opportunity to get ahead as the global focus on supply chains intensified.
"Aotearoa New Zealand has so much to lose if we get this wrong, reputationally, and as our overseas markets become more attuned to understanding this risk and then demanding supply chain transparency in relation to nature-related risk and biodiversity protection," Swan said.
"But New Zealand really has so much to gain if we get this right.
"This opinion is pointing to a trend that is coming towards New Zealand that we might not otherwise have been as aware of, and it's giving an opportunity to directors to get ahead of that and to understand the significance and the scale of some of these changes coming both here in New Zealand and overseas.
"The businesses that are really likely to be impacted by it, and that's going to be the primary sector, can really look hard at what they're doing."
Swan said some directors and businesses were already managing nature-based risks but others may have a way to go.
Businesses should assess and treat nature-based risks as they would any other risk, she said.
"The key takeaway is for directors to make sure their businesses are conscious of their dependence on the natural environment given the global biodiversity and climate crisis.
Directors were advised to ensure their businesses were identifying nature-related risks where these were foreseeable and material for their businesses, and to take these risks into account in their decision making.