To the Ministry of Climate and Environment

The Nature Risk Commission was appointed by Royal Decree on 22 June 2022 to describe the concept of nature risk, assess how Norwegian industries and sectors are and may become affected by the loss of nature and biodiversity, and examine how affected actors in Norway can best analyse and manage nature risk. The Commission hereby submits its report. One Commission Member has special remarks regarding four of the Commission's recommendations. The Recommendation is otherwise unanimous. Translations of the abstract are available digitally in English and Northern Sámi.

Assignment and output from the expert commission

The Nature Risk Commission was appointed by the Norwegian Government on 22 June 2022. In this report, the Commission accounts for its work on nature risk for industries, sectors and communities in Norway. This report offers insight that will contribute to a better understanding and assessment of nature risk – and an improved management of nature risk at all levels.

The Commission’s mandate comprised the following main tasks:

• describe nature risk based on the approach and terminology used in the report by the Expert Commission on Climate Risk,1 but with necessary modifications due to differences in the two challenges.
• assess how Norwegian industries and sectors are affected by physical nature risk, i.e., national and global nature loss and biodiversity, with a primary emphasis on physical changes that may constitute the most significant risk factors.
• assess how Norwegian industries and sectors will be affected by expected and potential tightening of framework conditions via changes in global, European and national policies on biodiversity, with a primary emphasis on changes that may constitute the greatest risk factors.
• assess how to most appropriately analyse and present nature risk at the national level.
• review how affected parties in Norway (private and public sector enterprises and organisations, including financial institutions) analyse and manage nature risk today, identify possible areas of improvement and assess and recommend methodologies that enable such parties to analyse and manage nature risk in the best possible manner.

Nature underpins economic activity and human well-being and thereby the society we live in. We subsist on, use and interact with nature in many different ways. We subsist on nature’s contributions to, among other things, food, animal feed, medicines, energy, materials, genetic materials and beneficial organisms. We live together with nature and depend on its life-giving, harm-regulating and waste-absorbing processes. We live in nature and shape it by way of business operations, culture and recreation and we live as nature and are shaped by nature, as we are part of nature. However, human activity also affects nature in countless ways, many of which are harmful.

Nature risk is about how the risk of loss and degradation of nature affects enterprises that depend on and impact on nature, and about the importance of society working to counteract this loss. The first form of risk is referred to as physical risk and the second as transition risk.These forms will be specified, elaborated and reviewed in the report. Both are also important at the societal level.

The Commission has aimed to produce an overview of both what nature risk is and entails for actors and communities in Norway and how nature risk is addressed, both internationally and in Norway. In addition, we have particularly discussed how actors and enterprises ought to relate to nature risk. There are extensive international efforts in the form of government-driven cooperation such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU, and in business-driven cooperation such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Our work must be based on their insight and thus that the work on nature risk in Norway is in line with international efforts. The Commission has held comprehensive consultation rounds with many committed actors in both the public and private sectors, and many are becoming increasingly aware of nature risk. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before general knowledge, understanding and practice ensures that all actors assess and manage nature risk satisfactorily. This applies to both the private and public sector.

The Commission makes specific recommendations at the national level and in relation to public and private sectors. A key recommendation is that actors and enterprises should observe the following five main methodological stages in their assessment and management of nature risk:

• identify where and how the enterprise impacts nature, including in its supply chains
• analyse where and how the enterprise depends on and affects nature
• assess how the enterprise is exposed to nature risk
• use the analyses and assessments as a basis for internal and external reporting
• apply this knowledge as a basis for specific decisions and actions

The Commission has also proposed some overarching approaches that should form the basis of all work pertaining to nature risk.

The Commission is grateful for the opportunity to work on this vital assignment.