"Lead Transformative Change or Risk Extinction” – what the IPBES business and biodiversity assessment means for World Heritage

In February 2026, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a major assessment on business and biodiversity, highlighting that nature loss represents a growing risk for economies and societies.

The report confirms that all businesses depend on biodiversity, while many also contribute to its decline, calling for stronger and more consistent action across sectors. UNESCO is a partner of IPBES, hosting the technical support unit that facilitates the integration of Indigenous and local knowledge into biodiversity assessments.

The assessment provides a comprehensive scientific basis to better understand how businesses both depend on and impact biodiversity, and why this relationship is central to economic stability and human wellbeing. It identifies biodiversity loss as a systemic risk and sets out more than 100 actions for businesses, governments and financial actors to better measure, manage and reduce their impacts on nature, while creating the conditions for more sustainable economic practices.

For World Heritage, this assessment reinforces the need for clear limits on harmful activities in areas of Outstanding Universal Value. It highlights that managing biodiversity risks cannot rely on mitigation alone but requires avoiding negative impacts in the most sensitive areas.

World Heritage sites include some of the world’s most important ecosystems but continue to be affected by pressures linked to economic activities, as demonstrated in earlier analyses, including the 2025 report on extractive activities and World Heritage.

UNESCO continues to support the “no-go” commitment, which calls on companies and financial institutions to avoid operations that are harmful to World Heritage sites. By establishing that certain activities are incompatible with their protection, the commitment provides a clear and practical approach for managing biodiversity risks.

At the same time, businesses are encouraged to take steps to avoid harm more broadly, for example by aligning their policies with World Heritage protection, identifying potential risks early, and ensuring that their activities do not negatively impact these irreplaceable sites.

To support implementation, UNESCO has recently strengthened its tools for corporate engagement. These include an updated database tracking the commitments and policies of businesses and financial institutions, and a new video explaining the standards of sustainable business conduct relating to World Heritage sites. These resources help to translate global biodiversity goals into practical action, encouraging stronger corporate responsibility and helping to protect the world’s most exceptional places.

© UNESCO / UNESCO World Heritage ‘no-go’ commitment and global standards for corporate sustainability

Recent additions to the UNESCO database include commitments from companies in the extractive industries, notably Petronas (Malaysia) and Repsol (Spain), both members of the global oil and gas association IPIECA. Several development finance institutions, including the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the OPEC Fund for International Development, have also updated their policies, which include safeguards for World Heritage. UNESCO welcomes these commitments, which reflect a growing recognition among businesses and financial institutions of their responsibility to protect World Heritage.

With the links between business and nature now under the spotlight, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is joining IPBES in calling on companies worldwide to speed up their efforts. Adopting strategies that respect World Heritage sites is a powerful way to start integrating biodiversity into decision-making. This enables businesses to contribute to the transformative change that is necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss – and lead by example. 

Learn more: 

IPBES press release

UNESCO thanks the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) for its support in strengthening corporate sector engagement in the protection of World Heritage.