SBTN, TNFD and NPI align nature frameworks for corporate reporting

Three global nature-reporting bodies have synchronized their frameworks in a coordinated release timed to the UN biodiversity conference held Oct. 19-30 in Yerevan, Armenia, cutting corporate assessment workloads and opening new pathways for companies to count regeneration projects toward biodiversity targets.

The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Nature Positive Initiative (NPI) issued aligned revisions that translate the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, into practical corporate guidance. Each body covers a distinct layer: SBTN guides corporate commitments, TNFD helps businesses and investors assess and disclose nature risks, and NPI develops measurement metrics.

"The growing alignment between TNFD, SBTN and the Nature Positive Initiative is a positive sign that the nature landscape is becoming more coherent and easier for companies to navigate," said Eva Zabey, CEO of Business for Nature, a nonprofit coalition.

What do the revisions change for companies?

The three organizations aligned their releases deliberately to reduce the "overwhelm" that early corporate adopters have experienced, SBTN CEO Erin Billman said.

"This is our effort to help companies embed the strategies with greater consistency and confidence," Billman said.

Collectively, the revisions:

• Allow companies to cross-reference the frameworks, cutting duplicative work and enabling reuse of the same data
• Add recognition for project types companies already fund, including land regeneration
• Set up closer alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative, the disclosure system used by a majority of large corporations, notably for the new NPI metrics approach

What is new from SBTN?

Science-Based Targets for Nature 2.0 adds pathways for corporations to declare conservation and biodiversity commitments by including projects that previously did not count toward targets, such as working land regeneration initiatives.

"More practical doesn't mean there's a lower bar," Billman said.

The revision applies only to freshwater and land strategies. It also offers clearer recommendations on supplier engagement and a template for transition plans that set out a long-term view of how companies reduce nature dependencies.

The update is the last major overhaul of the framework. Future changes will focus on "targeted refinements," the organization said. SBTN plans to organize a cohort of companies advancing nature-related targets in early 2027, Billman said. Adoption is building slowly: as of September, close to three dozen companies were working toward SBTN-validated nature goals.

How did TNFD revise its guidance?

TNFD LEAP version 2.0 — Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare — is the first major update since the initial release in September 2023. It incorporates feedback from three beta releases. Changes include:

• Considerations for environmental crimes
• Guidance for measuring invasive species
• Additional pointers for financial institutions evaluating investment portfolios
• Suggestions on how nature fits within broader corporate transition plans

How much did the metrics shrink?

NPI worked with 500 subject-matter experts and practitioners from 29 companies to collapse more than 600 nature metrics into four categories: ecosystem extent, ecosystem condition, species extinction risk, and species populations. The approach is now integrated into both the SBTN and TNFD revisions.

U.K. power company Drax Group, which piloted the NPI metrics, said the streamlined assessment improved its understanding of how nature directly affects the business.

"We also identified challenges regarding the time and resources needed to understand scientifically how positive and negative trends in nature can be measured accurately over time across a wide variety of potential measurement approaches," said Simon Graham, head of climate and nature at Drax.

"The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework sets important global goals for nature, but businesses can find it challenging to translate these high-level ambitions, such as halting nature loss by 2030, into tangible, day-to-day action," Graham said.

Drax backs 10 "nature-positive" commitments under its sustainability framework, including a pledge to publish a group water strategy covering efficiency, consumption and quality by the end of 2026.

The milestones to track now: GRI's formal alignment with the NPI metrics, SBTN's early-2027 company cohort, and Drax's end-of-2026 water strategy deadline.