Nature and Circular Economy

What EY can do for you

EY’s team bring together professionals with experience in engineering, science, business, natural resource management and biology, coupled with a deep understanding of specific policy and regulatory requirements.

The climate, nature and freshwater crisis put at risk the natural capital that our economic activities and livelihoods depend upon. Concurrently, national and international ambitions to reduce the effects of such risks are rising. Companies face increasing stakeholder expectations to mitigate their impacts and develop strategies for adaptation. These expectations come through reporting frameworks such as the EU Taxonomy do no significant harm (DNSH) criteria, CSRD's environmental disclosure requirements, and legislations like the EU Deforestation Regulation.

Circular economy regulations are also on the rise, with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan driving change through requirements related to Ecodesign and Digital Product Passports. Stakeholders are also demanding increased product transparency, recycled content and reduced climate impact, whilst ESRS E5 reporting requires improved control of resource inflows and outflows.

EY teams can assist organizations on their nature and circularity journeys with:

• Environmental regulation mapping
• Gap assessments against nature-related disclosure frameworks
• Biodiversity hot spot assessment
• Identification and assessment of material sites for ESRS E4 reporting
• Nature risk and opportunity assessments, both qualitative and quantitative
• Analysis and reporting according to the LEAP approach in the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)
• Nature strategy and transition plan development including consideration of biodiversity and ecosystems in strategy and business modelling 
• Natural capital accounting
• Capacity building for managing nature-related risks and opportunities
• Circular product design and lifecycle assessment
• Resource inflows and resource outflow mapping and ESRS E5 reporting
• Supply chain environmental management and system development
• Environmental management system development such as ISO 14001 
• Preparation of environmental disclosures and assurance services

Nature risk and strategy

EY assists companies in identifying their touchpoints with nature, assessing impacts, and understand dependencies on natural services. Our approach to mapping nature risk utilizes the framework of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the LEAP methodology recommended by CSRD. This is further supported by our own LEAP aligned tool, EY NAT (Nature Analytics Platform). Once impacts and dependencies are identified, EY can help quantify nature-related risks and opportunities, integrating these assessments into existing risk management and financial processes. EY also supports companies in developing measures to reduce negative impacts, create positive outcomes, seize opportunities, and mitigate nature-related risks. We help set priorities and goals aligned with principles like the mitigation hierarchy and frameworks such as the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN). Additionally, EY provides strategies and quality assurance for purchasing nature offsets when unavoidable impacts occur.

Circular economy and Resource Management 

EY assists clients with a range of challenges related to the circular economy. In a time when our resources are limited and the environment suffers under conventional consumption and production patterns, we want to be part of the solution. EY helps clients identify resource flows to ensure future access to materials, identify new business opportunities, and stay ahead of regulations. New from the EU is CSRD and ESRS E5, which require companies to report on material flows given that this is a significant part of operations. EY assists clients with the attestation of LCA analyses. We conduct a limited attestation of the calculations for LCA analyses against ISO standards 14040, 14044, and 14067. EY reviews that calculations are carried out in accordance with these standards, that the calculations are accurate, that the correct inputs are utilized, and that justifications for benchmarking are based on sufficient evidence.