The report by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative said that around three quarters of food crops depend on pollination, which made pollinators worth up to $577bn annually.

Half of this pollination comes from wild pollinators. However, pollinator populations are declining rapidly, with more than a third of wild bee and butterfly species facing local extinction.

The report, which was also authored by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and the University of East Anglia (UEA), found businesses lacked information about potential risks to their supply chains.

Eight blue chip companies including Asda, The Body Shop, Mars and PepsiCo, were surveyed.

Many said they were unable to take action because of uncertainty around which crops and sourcing regions were vulnerable to pollinator decline.

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