Towards Nature Positive supply chains: From biodiversity commitments to organisational action

Éilish Farrelly , Talitha Bromwich, Sophus O.S.E zu Ermgassen, Joseph W Bull, Hollie Booth, Heather Needham, Alice Karuri, Samuel Thuo Mungai, Kamau Mbarire, Thomas B White, Emily Stott, Charlotte Maddinson, E.J. Milner-Gulland

Large organisations are critical to halting and reversing biodiversity loss, and increasingly making bold commitments for nature. However, translating commitments into action requires robust strategies to fully identify, quantify, trace, and act. This is particularly pertinent because most organisational impacts are hidden within complex supply chains. Here we present a novel, generalised, and scalable approach to assessing and addressing supply chain impacts on biodiversity, demonstrating its applicability using a large organisation (Oxford University). We show how organisations can evaluate supply chain traceability and transparency, estimate region-specific biodiversity impacts, and harness collaborations for impact mitigation. Among Oxford's 131 highest-spend suppliers, only 18 disclosed raw material origins, with two offering product life-cycle assessments, evidencing the major traceability gap resulting in a systemic accountability barrier. We home in on a single product (coffee) to demonstrate how organisations could move beyond diagnosis to action: Applying life cycle impact assessment to estimate Oxford's coffee procurement biodiversity footprint and demonstrate translation of these insights into practical, collaborative interventions with in-country partners. By shifting the focus beyond diagnosing supply chains as a major driver of biodiversity loss to delivering actionable solutions, this study provides a scalable pathway for large organisations to contribute to global nature recovery.