Nature Action 100 Unveils Benchmark Indicators for Assessing Corporate Ambition and Action on Nature

April 25, 2024 /3BL/ - Nature Action 100, the first global investor-led engagement initiative to address nature and biodiversity loss, has revealed a set of benchmark indicators that will be used to assess the nature-related ambition and action of the initiative’s 100 companies.

The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark – which is based on the initiative’s Investor Expectations of Companies and developed in consultation with investors – is comprised of six indicators covering Ambition, Assessment, Targets, Implementation, Governance, and Engagement. These high-level indicators are underpinned by 17 sub-indicators and 50 metrics. View the full benchmark here.

Nature Action 100 will release the first company assessments based on the benchmark later this year and will conduct them annually thereafter. Companies will be assessed on the quality of their disclosures and actions. The annual assessments are intended to track corporate progress and provide needed insight into the actions of systemically important sectors to reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030.

Sonya Likhtman, Associate Director – EOS, EOS, Federated Hermes Limited, said: “The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark will be an important tool for investors to assess companies' exposure to material nature-related risks and track progress on their biodiversity strategies. We were pleased to provide input to the benchmark through the consultation process, focusing especially on ensuring that companies address impacts throughout the value chain and effectively engage Indigenous groups.”

The benchmark will be a valuable resource for the more than 200 Nature Action 100 investor participants in their engagements with companies under the initiative. The assessments will also support investors in better understanding the material nature-related financial risks in their individual portfolios and how they can manage these to protect the long-term economic interests of their clients and beneficiaries. Companies can use the assessments to understand their progress against investor expectations on nature.

Adam Kanzer, Head of Stewardship, Americas, BNP Paribas Asset Management, and Co-chair of the Nature Action 100 Steering Group, said: “In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) put the world on notice that we are in crisis – a man-made mass extinction event threatens to permanently alter life on Earth, with catastrophic consequences for every aspect of our lives, and our economies. Today, Nature Action 100 launches a public benchmark designed to measure corporate progress on the road to reversing nature loss by 2030, aligned with a set of six high-level investor expectations. If we are to protect our companies, portfolios and economies from nature loss, we must focus first and foremost on the drivers of that risk. The orientation of our benchmark is therefore clear and represents a consensus view – impacts to nature must be prioritized.”

The Nature Action 100 Corporate Engagement Working Group, co-led by Ceres and IIGCC, developed the benchmark indicators through comprehensive research, drawing on best practices grounded in the latest science and data. They ensured alignment with nature target-setting and disclosure frameworks, such as the Science Based Targets Network and Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

The development process included extensive consultation with dozens of Nature Action 100 investor participants and experts from organizations and universities around the world, including representatives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Leslie Cordes, Vice President of programs, Ceres said: “The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark will be a powerful tool to support investors as they evaluate corporate progress and help them to hold companies accountable for their contributions to nature and biodiversity loss. The benchmark indicators announced today lay out clear high-level expectations for the ambitious actions that investors have called on companies to take to mitigate their nature-related financial risks.”

Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO, IIGCC said: “While climate mitigation has been a major focus of investors’ corporate engagement to date, overall there has been less attention and action on nature and biodiversity despite also posing clear systemic and individual asset level financial risks. The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark is therefore a major milestone and will be a valuable tool for investors seeking to better understand and manage these risks, as well as the potential opportunities.”

Editor’s Note:

The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark indicators are available here.

Nature Action 100 is hosting a webinar to provide an overview of the Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark indicators, including how the benchmark complements other reporting frameworks, such as the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures. The webinar takes place at 10 a.m. ET on May 2 and is open to members of the media. Register here.

Media Contacts: 

Bridget Vis, Ceres, vis@ceres.org 
Ross Gillam, IIGCC, rgillam@iigcc.org

About Nature Action 100

Nature Action 100 is a global investor-led engagement initiative that aims to support greater corporate ambition and action on reversing nature and biodiversity loss to mitigate financial risk and to protect the long-term economic interests of investors’ clients and beneficiaries. Investors participating in the initiative engage companies in systemically important sectors to achieve this goal by 2030.

The initiative’s Secretariat and Corporate Engagement Working Group is co-led by Ceres and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), and the initiative’s Technical Advisory Group is co-led by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and Planet Tracker.

For more information on Nature Action 100, visit natureaction100.org.