For many companies, the most material supply chain risks are no longer geopolitical or operational. They are ecological.
From water scarcity and soil degradation to land-use regulation, nature is now shaping costs, security of supply, and market access. Droughts are disrupting agricultural yields, floods are shutting down manufacturing hubs, and new regulations are reshaping sourcing decisions. These nature-related shocks are already translating into higher costs, supply chain disruptions, and increased financial volatility.
Yet for many organisations, the biggest risks stay hidden several tiers upstream. They sit beyond the reach of traditional procurement and risk management tools.
Our latest whitepaper, Supply Chain Risk: Why Nature Intelligence Matters, explores why nature has become one of the most underappreciated drivers of supply-chain risk — and what companies can do about it.
Every supply chain depends on functioning ecosystems. Water availability, soil health, pollination, climate regulation, and biodiversity underpin the production of raw materials and the stability of logistics networks. When these systems degrade, the impacts ripple quickly through supply chains.
Crucially, most nature-related dependencies and impacts sit upstream — in agriculture, forestry, mining, and processing — often in regions where companies have limited visibility. This creates a structural blind spot: risks concentrate where oversight weakens.
Recent events make this tangible. Drought-driven cocoa and coffee shortages have pushed global prices sharply higher. Flooding has shut down manufacturing hubs. New regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation are already increasing compliance costs and reshaping sourcing decisions.
Despite growing pressure from investors and regulators, many companies still use nature data that is too broad to inform real decisions. Country or sector averages mask local hotspots. A supplier located in a “medium water-stress” country may, in reality, operate in a basin under extreme water stress.
This lack of granularity erodes confidence internally:
Procurement teams struggle to prioritise suppliers
Risk teams cannot link ecological change to financial exposure
Sustainability teams find it difficult to translate assessments into credible action or defensible disclosure under frameworks like the TNFD and CSRD.
Ultimately, it can lead to misplaced priorities and missed risks.
The solution: integrating spatial science and supply chain data to get decision-ready analytics.
The starting point is measurement and disclosure. The whitepaper sets out the key principles for companies to follow based on emerging best practices and TNFD guidelines.
Leading companies are going beyond disclosure, and embedding nature considerations into core supply-chain strategy to strengthen resilience. For example, Nestlé is investing £1.1 billion in regenerative agriculture for cocoa and coffee, linking supplier payments to soil and water outcomes.
Foundational to both credible disclosures and effective action is high quality supply chain data. Natcap’s Nature Intelligence Suite for Supply Chains builds this foundation by linking supplier locations to quantitative, location-specific nature risk, allowing companies to prioritise action where exposure is highest.
Nature intelligence is no longer optional. Businesses must integrate nature risk into governance, procurement, and reporting. With credible, location-specific insight, organisations can strengthen security of supply, manage cost volatility, target supplier engagement, and build long-term resilience.
Read the full whitepaper to explore real-world examples, emerging regulatory signals, and a practical framework for integrating nature into supply chain risk management.