(Updates throughout)

The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) on Wednesday launched methods for companies to set targets for ecosystem protection and restoration, freshwater use, and freshwater pollution, with 17 global firms to pilot the methods ahead of a general launch next year.

The long-awaited release marks the first opportunity for global businesses to set targets for their impact on nature and biodiversity with a similar science-based backing as the roughly 2,600 companies that have set goals for climate change.

“Building science-based targets for nature into business strategies will not only be vital to helping secure a healthy, resilient, and equitable world, but to driving long-term resilience for businesses,” said Erin Billman, SBTN executive director.

“We are asking businesses to seize the opportunity now and to start assessing their impact on Earth’s finite resources and prepare and set the first science-based targets for nature.”

More than 200 organisations and companies worldwide have helped develop the first targets, with the ones for freshwater quality and quantity already piloted for a couple years.

SBTN has a set process for how companies should go about setting nature-based targets, which should start by assessing their nature impact and then interpret data and prioritise locations in order to determine target boundaries, before actually setting the targets.

While the SBTN encourages all businesses to start the assessment process as soon as possible, the 17 companies picked to pilot the target-setting methods have already gone through that.

Those 17 are from the food and beverage, forestry, manufacturing, apparel, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries, and include AB InBev, Alpro (part of Danone), Bel, Carrefour, Corbion, GSK, H&M Group, Hindustan Zinc Limited, Holcim Group, Kering, L’Occitane Group, LVMH, Nestle, Neste Corporation, Suntory Holdings, Tesco, and UPM.

Depending on their experiences with using the SBTN target methods, the frameworks will be opened up for all companies in early 2024.

“As a global beverage company, nature and water is the foundation of our business. The climate, biodiversity, and water crises are deeply intertwined and it is essential to take a nexus approach for taking the right action,” said Masaaki Fujiwara, chief sustainability officer with Suntory Holdings.

“We believe that the science-based targets for nature will guide us to set the appropriate target and action that is truly meaningful toward nature positive.”

Along with the Taskforce on Nature-based Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the SBTN process is considered crucial in highlighting the impact on nature and biodiversity from business and the need to take strong action, and is also expected to underpin demand for voluntary biodiversity credits and other nature-based projects in the longer run.

WHAT’S COME OUT

The material published by SBTN Wednesday is the beginning of a journey rather than a once-and-for-all recipe for corporations wanting to set science-based nature targets.

The documents are intended for a technical audience, with a corporate manual set to be released later in the year.

The guidelines must be developed carefully in order to ensure buy in and facilitate adoption by global businesses.

“It’s actually impossible to overstate [nature’s] importance, it is literally existential,” said Nigel Topping, global ambassador and high-level climate champion during his opening remarks at a related webinar on Wednesday.

“Still, the majority of corporates are only at the beginning of their journey…so we have huge risks collectively,” he added.

Target-setting methods have been limited to land use change and management as well as freshwater use and pollution because they are the primary human-made drivers for biodiversity loss, but the selection will be expanded later through further releases.

“Our guidance document outlines the details and science around each of these targets, which will be further tested and understood during the pilot period over the next six months,” said Craig Beatty, SBTN Land Hub expert at non-profit WWF, whilst commenting on the land-based targets.

“Much of the data and tools are new and remain in development, including both required and suggested metrics, and data that will take time to better understand during the pilot process,” he added.

A brief summary of the coverage of biodiversity within these first methods was also published, but will be accompanied by a more extensive research paper later this year.

“Areas where better coverage is needed have already been identified, including incorporating species-level indicators, freshwater and marine ecosystem level indicators, greater consideration of connectivity, and pressures such as overexploitation and invasive species,” the paper said.

“As an example, reduction of species extinction risk is a high-profile outcome of the GBF … that resonates strongly with the general public, including consumers. Species-level targets and indicators, currently absent from SBTN Step 3 methods, may therefore be valuable for companies looking to take action.”

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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