By Marco Rossi, Director of Standardization, ISO
I’ve always loved the ocean. Surfing taught me a simple truth: you can’t conquer the waves; you have to understand them, respect them, and act with precision. Today, the planet faces the biggest wave of all: the climate and biodiversity crisis. And make no mistake – if we fail to act decisively, we will be wiped out.
The 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) in Belém, Brazil, is more than another global summit – it’s a turning point. Set in the heart of the Amazon, one of the planet’s greatest reservoirs of biodiversity, it offers the world a chance to align climate ambition with the protection of nature itself. This is not a moment for abstract promises or diplomatic choreography. It’s where humanity must show it can turn ambition into measurable action.
At this critical juncture, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), together with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and UL Standards & Engagement (ULSE), is once again convening the Standards Pavilion at the COP – this year joined by 18 other international organizations, UN agencies, and private sector coalitions. Together, they represent the largest-ever alliance of standards bodies to engage collectively at a UN climate conference, underscoring the growing recognition of international standards as essential tools for environmental preservation and restoration.
Stop the war on nature
During the launch of ISO 17298 – the new international biodiversity standard – at the ISO Annual Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda’s Minister of Environment Bernadette Arakwiye issued a powerful call to action. “Biodiversity sustains our food, water, climate and economies,” she said. “Humanity must end its war against nature and work together to restore our ecosystems.” Her words captured a truth that COP 30 will have to confront head-on: biodiversity is not a luxury – it’s the foundation of life, society, and security.
As the world’s first international standard dedicated to biodiversity, ISO 17298 provides a rigorous, auditable framework for organizations to assess, manage, and report their impacts on nature. Designed to work hand in hand with ISO 14001, ISO 26000, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework and the SDGs, it directly supports the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), particularly Target 15 on corporate accountability.
Standards like these are more than technical tools. They are non-negotiable instruments for holding organizations accountable and safeguarding ecosystems. In the race to heal the planet – the very challenge at the heart of COP 30 – they will be essential for ensuring that nature is not sidelined in climate policy but embedded within it.
Show us the proof
In the Amazon, entire communities depend on mangrove forests that shelter fish, store carbon, and protect villages from flooding. When those mangroves are threatened by unchecked development, the stakes are not just environmental – they’re economic, social, and ethical. Until now, communities had little leverage to defend the ecosystem that sustains them. ISO 17298 will change that. It requires developers to measure, manage, and disclose their impacts on nature using transparent, auditable data.
Under ISO 17298, companies can:
- Assess impacts and dependencies;
- Set measurable mitigation and restoration objectives; and
- Report transparently for global verification.
This is accountability in action. What was once a one-sided struggle becomes a system of shared responsibility – where communities can demand transparency, investors can track performance, and policymakers can rely on evidence.
ISO is uniquely positioned to bridge these worlds. By setting the benchmark for governments, businesses, and civil society, ISO 17298 turns local efforts into verifiable and scalable impacts. For the first time, what communities ask for can be measured, monitored, and enforced – and that is where real progress begins. This kind of measurable proof is what the world most urgently needs: clear evidence that protecting biodiversity also delivers on climate, resilience, and equity.
Shared metrics for measurable progress
For years, financial institutions have struggled to price nature the way they price carbon or capital risk. The TNFD was a major step forward, giving businesses and investors a framework to identify and report on nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities. But TNFD alone can’t drive change – it needs a technical backbone. That backbone is ISO 17298.
The ISO standard provides auditable, standardized metrics that transform broad environmental claims into concrete, verifiable action. For banks, investors, and insurers, that means TNFD disclosures are no longer narrative statements but quantifiable data points, tied directly to real-world performance. By providing a common language for biodiversity management, ISO 17298 helps channel finance toward nature-positive outcomes and ensures that investment decisions are grounded in transparent, verifiable data.
TNFD defines what to measure, ISO 17298 defines how to measure it with credibility. Together, they bridge the gap between policy ambition and financial accountability, ensuring that the trillions of dollars flowing through global markets don’t undermine nature, but instead finance its regeneration, resilience, and long-term value.
Riding the green wave
We cannot afford another wipe-out. The new biodiversity standard is the technical surfboard for navigating the complex interplay of finance, business, and ecosystems.
Every sector – from agriculture and manufacturing to energy and finance – can use it to manage impacts, restore natural systems, and embed biodiversity into everyday decisions. It’s how ambition becomes accountability, and how sustainability moves from aspiration to enforcement, giving communities, investors, and regulators the clarity they need to drive change. As the world gathers in Belém, surrounded by nature that is living proof of what’s at stake, the message is clear: protecting biodiversity is not separate from climate action – it is climate action. Standards like ISO 17298 give us the means to measure progress, verify integrity, and ride the green wave toward a future where nature and prosperity thrive together.