Nature in transition plans

Overview

The mission of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is to ‘halt and reverse biodiversity loss’ by 2030, with a 2050 vision of ‘a world living in harmony with nature’. 

Delivering the transition implied by the GBF will require adaptation of business practices across all sectors. Transition planning offers a way to manage an organisation’s responses and contributions to this transition in a coherent, structured way and communicate those intended actions to investors and others stakeholders.

Building on market familiarity with net-zero transition planning, the TNFD guidance helps organisations incorporate nature into their transition plans and to disclose information about those plans.

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Nature in transition planning

A transition plan is an aspect of an organisation’s overall business strategy that lays out the organisation’s goals, targets, actions, accountability mechanisms and intended resources to respond and contribute to societal goals and other economic transformations, where relevant.

Nature in transition plans concerns the organisation’s goals, targets, actions, accountability mechanisms and intended resources to respond and contribute to the transition implied by the Global Biodiversity Framework, where:

  • Biodiversity loss is halted and reversed by 2030; and
  • Biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people by 2050.

Transition plans should be timebound and science based, respect human rights, and include the identification and management of synergies and trade-offs with other transition plan objectives, including any response and contribution to the transition implied by the Paris Agreement.

Incorporating nature into transition plans is structured around the same five themes recommended by GFANZ for climate in transition plans.

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Preparing to incorporate nature into transition planning

An organisation needs to understand its nature-related issues to be able to design a meaningful plan to manage those issues. An organisation can start with a LEAP assessment to identify its nature-related issues across its business model and value chain.

An organisation does not have to cover every location or nature-related issue in its transition plan immediately. It can start transition planning for just a part of its business model and value chain and expand the coverage, precision and depth over time.

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Integrated planning

The nature and climate transitions are closely linked. Climate change is one of the five drivers of nature change identified by IPBES, and nature degradation, including deforestation, is a source of greenhouse gas emissions. Nature restoration can help capture and sequester carbon from the atmosphere and support climate adaptation. There is no net zero without nature.

Building on market best practices for climate transition plans, including the approach proposed by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT), the TNFD guidance breaks down the process of aligning with the goals and targets of the GBF and the Paris Agreement into a coherent set of forward-looking strategies, actions and accountability mechanisms, built into the organisation’s main business strategy.

The TNFD’s emphasis is on nature ‘in’ transition planning, not a separate ‘nature transition plan’, although some organisations may decide to start with a standalone nature plan. As we have seen with corporate reporting using the TCFD and TNFD recommended disclosures, there is value in moving as soon as practical to an integrated approach considering climate change and other nature-related issues in an integrated fashion. 

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Disclosing information about nature in a transition plan

Investors are increasingly seeking information about organisations’ transition plans to understand how their investees intend to manage their nature-related issues, including climate change, and to respond and contribute to the transition implied not only by the Paris Agreement but also by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).   

To support an integrated approach, the guidance on disclosure follows the same structure as recommended in the TPT disclosure framework for climate transition plans.

The TNFD has adapted the TPT recommendations:

  • The TNFD disclosure guidance retains 16 of the 19 TPT recommended disclosures
  • The TPT’s recommended disclosure on strategic ambition has been replaced with guidance on disclosure of information about transition plan framing and scope, and plan priorities
  • The TPT’s recommended disclosures on greenhouse gas emissions metrics and targets has been replaced with guidance on disclosure of information about nature-related dependency and impact metrics and targets
  • The TNFD has added guidance on disclosure of information about engagement in landscapes, basins and seascapes
  • The TPT’s recommended disclosure on carbon credits was not considered relevant to the nature context

Related publications

Further resources