Finance and retail bosses have called for urgent action to embed environmental responsibility into business strategy.
It comes after business leaders from the Channel Islands gathered for the conference in Jersey on Wednesday.
Andrew Mitchell, founder of Jersey-based finance consultancy Equilibrium Futures at the Business Sustainability Conference, told BBC Radio Jersey: “Money makes the world go around, but it also does a lot to harm the things we love, particularly the air we breathe and also nature.
“If I was a CEO looking at numbers like that I’d be really worried that we’re heading towards natural capital bankruptcy.”
Manish Datta, director of sustainability at Specsavers Group, said: “At the very heart of corporate sustainability, it’s about how we utilise resources as efficiently as possible so that we can protect our biosphere, our planet, nature… and at the same time operate our business in a resilient and commercially savvy way.”
Michelle Ryan, conference host and chairwoman of the Jersey Association of Sustainability Practitioners, said: “Climate change, nature collapse, extreme politics, extreme weather, social problems, all are manifesting right now.
“These are sustainability issues for right now and they affect businesses right now.”
She also highlighted the importance of consumer pressure.
“If consumers ask those questions, then the businesses start doing something about it,” she said.
“We have a unique opportunity to move faster. The wheels can be in motion very quickly here… we’re a much closer community that can make these moves much more quickly.”
