Accelerating business accountability, ambition and action and in support of Global Biodiversity Framework implementation

WBCSD with 60 leading companies and partners are developing business guidance for actions to align strategies with the shared goal of a nature-positive planet by 2030.  

Geneva and Montreal, 9 December 2022: At the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has announced a business guidance “Roadmaps to nature positive: Guidelines to accelerate business accountability, ambition and action for a nature-positive future” to accelerate nature-positive action by 2030 and support the development of nature accountability frameworks. The guidance provides a checklist of actions to assess, commit, transform and disclose performance, and is expected to have a significant contribution toward achieving the shared goal of a nature-positive planet by 2030.  

The 60 leading companies supporting the development of this nature-positive guidance, represent a combined value of USD $2 trillion, particularly in high impact systems of land use, built environment and energy. Released currently as a draft for consultation, the guidance will evolve by integrating users’ feedback and the latest developments of the nature accountability framework. With COP15 having started this week, this demonstrates business leadership action toward an ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) outcome.  

Accountability was a strong theme at the UN Climate COP27 and is expected to be central to COP15 discussions. WBCSD has engaged its leading member companies to develop a business implementation agenda for COP27 “The Business of Climate Recovery: Accelerating Accountability, Ambition and Action.” This agenda sets out interventions for accelerating the global decarbonization of business, supporting business leaders in close collaboration with governments – a similar system is emerging for nature – to sharpen accountability, raise ambition, and deliver action at speed and scale.  

“WBCSD is developing value chain specific roadmaps for the high impact systems – land use, built environment and energy. These roadmaps will provide the comprehensive business nature “action agenda” across key value chains that will help business to meet the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and stimulate the additional finance required to do so.” Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President WBCSD 

As a first step, 15 leading companies from the Forest Solutions Group (FSG) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released Phase I of the Forest Sector Nature-Positive Roadmap to support business in scaling up actions to halt and reverse nature loss, setting science-based nature-related goals and targets, and disclosing progress using quantifiable metrics. 

Key value chain specific elements of the roadmaps to nature-positive include:  

1. Assess Materiality: Identify the most material nature-related impacts and dependencies across key-value chains 
2. Set Quantifiable Targets: Commit to time-bound, science-informed goals and targets to halt and reverse the loss of nature  
3. Deploy Resources: Commit resources and investments for high-impact actions that halt and reverse the loss of nature and demonstrably contribute to climate, people and nature goals 
4. Support Enabling Policy: Align engagement with global policy and finance initiatives and outreach to civil society with nature-positive business actions to ensure impact 
5. Use Consistent and Credible Metrics: Validation of value-chain-wide, indicators and metrics  
6. Report Progress: Transparently report progress against these commitments and disclose outcomes for high-impact actions against baseline conditions on an annual basis. These promote company adoption and application of emerging frameworks for nature, such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and Science Based Targets for Nature.  

WBCSD looks forward to working with its members and partners through 2023 to strengthen the corporate nature accountability system by advancing its Nature Roadmaps and by increasing and accelerating business ambition, accountability and actions needed to halt and reverse nature loss.  

This work co-developed with key partners including Capitals Coalition and Business for Nature, builds on existing frameworks such as the Natural Capital Protocol (NCP) and embed use of Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) which will provide the standard for setting targets and disclosing nature-related information.   

“In partnering with WBCSD, we recognize the value of collective engagement with business to not only test and validate our respective methods, tools and frameworks but to also prepare business, at scale, to adopt science-based targets for nature”. Erin Billman, Executive Director, Science Based Target Network  

 “Through our partnership with WBCSD, we expect a growing number of companies to commit to setting SBTs for nature and best in class disclosures. The nature-positive roadmaps being developed by WBCSD provide a unique space for business to learn, share and drive action.” Tony Goldner, Executive Director, TNFD