After decades of advocacy for biodiversity and ecosystem protection, driven by growing awareness of their critical role in sustaining life, economies, and climate stability, there is now a unifying technical framework to translate those commitments into enforceable practice.
The newly published ISO 17298:2025 represents the first international standard designed to integrate biodiversity considerations directly into organizational strategy and operations.
For years, biodiversity policy has been guided by voluntary pledges and fragmented approaches, from conservation initiatives to sustainability disclosures. Yet the lack of a consistent and verifiable method to measure and manage corporate impacts on nature has limited real progress.
With ISO 17298, the International Organization for Standardization provides what many see as the missing operational link between global policy frameworks and corporate accountability systems.
This standard arrives at a pivotal moment. As biodiversity loss accelerates and global markets begin to recognize nature-related risks, ISO 17298 offers a coherent structure for turning ecological concern into measurable action.
It has the potential to redefine how organizations value natural capital, manage risk, and demonstrate alignment with global sustainability goals, marking a new chapter in the governance of the planet’s living systems.
What ISO 17298:2025 Contains
The ISO 17298:2025: ‘Biodiversity in strategy and operations’ is applicable to any type of organisation, and defines requirements and guidelines for how organisations can embed a biodiversity approach into both strategy and operations.
ISO 17298:2025 provides a step-by-step framework for organisations to:
- Understand how their activities depend upon and impact biodiversity.
- Prioritise and manage those dependencies and impacts, aligned with organisational context.
- Set measurable objectives, monitor progress and review performance.
- Integrate biodiversity considerations into governance, risk management, supply-chains, operations and reporting.
Alignment with Global Frameworks
The standard explicitly references alignment with the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF), and thereby supports organisations in operationalising biodiversity-related obligations and expectations under that global framework.
It also complements other standards and initiatives such as the Taskforce on Nature‑related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), signalling that biodiversity is increasingly being treated as a financial, regulatory and strategic issue and not just an environmental add-on.
Business Relevance
The business case for ISO 17298:2025 is rooted in the fact that a large proportion of global economic activity is dependent on ecosystems. Organisations face growing regulatory, reputational and operational risks from biodiversity loss.
Following the ISO, businesses can shift from mere disclosure to demonstration of biodiversity governance, embedding it into audit trails, investment decisions and supply-chain management models.
Why This Standard Matters Now
The timing of ISO 17298:2025 is significant. With the KM-GBF driving national biodiversity strategies and investors beginning to price nature-related risk, organisations without a robust biodiversity approach risk being left behind.
The new standard offers a credible, internationally-recognised mechanism to respond. For sectors such as agriculture, forestry, mining, construction, finance and manufacturing, the standard opens a pathway to nature-positive business models and access to emerging nature-linked finance mechanisms.
The shift is akin to the role that carbon-accounting standards played in climate strategy: biodiversity accounting may now follow a similar trajectory, with investor, regulatory and corporate integration happening within just a few years.
The Environment Consultant 