At the level of the EU Member States, two main Business and Biodiversity projects have started in 2010, the EC Business and Biodiversity platform and the Business and Biodiversity Campaign. Both projects liaise with each other as well as with the German Initiative Business in Good Company, sharing information and experiences for the benefit of all stakeholders involved.

Business and Biodiversity Initiative 'Biodiversity in Good Company'

The internationally focused German B&B initiative “Biodiversity in Good Company” was launched during the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) has taken on the task of implementing this cross-sector initiative. It aims to encourage the private sector to incorporate conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into their management systems. Currently, more than 40 international companies have joined the initiative. The private sector and academic institute collaborated and published a handbook for businesses.

www.business-and-biodiversity.org

European Business and Biodiversity Platform

The European Commission took the initiative to set up a European Business and Biodiversity Platform. The project has started in January 2010 led by IUCN Regional Office for Pan-Europe and its partners including The European Centre for Nature Conservation, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the European Land Owners Association. The platform focuses on six priority sectors: agriculture, food supply industry, forestry, extractive industries, financial sector and tourism. The platform will benchmark best practices, in the respective sectors, concerning biodiversity protection including developing best-practice guidance. The platform will also develop an award rating system to acknowledge sectors and companies that have an outstanding contribution to biodiversity protection. The EU Business and Biodiversity platform website was launched during Green Week in June 2010. It contains general information about the project, sectors background documents, a resource centre and showcases companies’ best practices. The website will be updated regularly and will act as a clearing house mechanism.

It is hosted under: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/business/