Beyond-value-chain actions refer to investments or initiatives outside a company’s direct operations and value chain that support global climate, nature, and equity goals.
While businesses are making progress within their operations and supply chains, this alone is insufficient to address pressing global challenges. To secure a sustainable future, companies must take broader actions.
Businesses can fund projects outside of their value chains, such as ecosystem restoration, innovative sustainable technologies, or community programs.
A common mechanism for this is voluntary markets, where companies can buy high-quality credits what finance critical climate and nature efforts outside their value chains, supporting global climate, nature and equity goals.
Despite growing global action, efforts remain insufficient to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Simultaneously, nature loss continues, with nearly 70% of wildlife populations having declined since the 1970s, and rising inequality threatens societal stability. Businesses must urgently address these issues, as climate risks such as extreme weather events, nature loss threatening ecosystem services, and social discord from inequality, can all disrupt supply chains and corporate performance.
One key challenge is the financing gap to meet global goals. Climate finance needs to increase nearly tenfold, and biodiversity conservation requires hundreds of billions of dollars annually. While in-value-chain actions are imperative, they are often not enough. Many emissions and impacts occur outside of company value chains, requiring concerted effort through beyond-value-chain investments.
Policymakers are increasingly introducing climate, nature, and equity targets, also prompting businesses to act beyond their physical value chains. In this evolving policy landscape, businesses that engage in beyond-value-chain actions can align with future regulations and gain a competitive advantage.
Furthermore, financial institutions are paying more attention to beyond-value-chain actions, with frameworks like the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), bringing them into public disclosures. Companies that undertake consistent efforts on climate, nature, and equity issues – including those beyond their value chains – will not only strengthen their overall business resilience but also better position themselves for stable financing.
Beyond the financial benefits, companies that go beyond their value chains can differentiate their brands, attract customers, enhance talent retention, and build a stronger social license to operate.
The goal of this workstream is to enable businesses to scale beyond-value-chain actions (BVCA). This workstream sits between the climate and nature action program, where members work together to identify the barriers that companies face when investing in BVCA and share strategies and tools to overcome them. By fostering collaboration among businesses, value chain partners, and a network of experts, companies can accelerate progress and scale investments in BVCA.
