By Rosimeiry Portela, Senior Technical Director at the Capitals Coalition and A-Track Project Lead
There's a deep interconnectedness between science, the willingness to act towards a nature-positive future, and the crucial enabling environment. For too long, we have viewed these realms in isolation, but a shift is underway.
Indeed, increasing recognition within business that sustainability is essential for achieving long-term success is driven by several factors, including greater understanding of climate change and planetary boundaries, rapid advancements in technology, evolutions in consumer behaviour and the evolving regulatory environment. From a business perspective, innovation informed by science and with a supporting regulatory framework that encourages greener investment is the path towards resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Business resilience and competitiveness require a transition – one that demands radical changes in businesses relationship with nature. A-Track seeks to drive this transition by increasing access to crucial nature information and strengthening the enabling environment for the incorporation of nature impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities into business and financial decision-making.
But how do we bridge the gap between the concept of transition to nature positive and everyday business decisions? This article delves into just that, exploring the A-Track Conceptual Framework, which aims to be actionable by transforming knowledge into practical solutions and an enabling environment, ultimately fostering transition to a nature-positive future.
The transition we need has been nourished by pioneering efforts over the last two decades and supported by the development of guidance on how to identify, measure and value direct and indirect impacts and dependencies on natural capital. A-Track builds on that, standing as a technical and analytical lens to bridge existing work and international initiatives and unveil synergies.
The A-Track Conceptual Framework brings together and display in a coherent manner other relevant frameworks, concepts, models, initiatives and approaches, which support acceleration of nature-positive action across the private and public sectors. In doing so, it also acknowledges key actors - business, finance and government, as each in their individual and collective role have a responsibility to catalyse a shift towards a nature-positive world, as proposed by the infinity loop diagram.
The central structure for the A-Track Conceptual Framework is the ACT-D framework - a set of four high-level actions: Assess, Commit, Transform and Disclose. This summarises the high-level actions businesses can take to help reverse nature loss and contribute to an equitable, nature-positive world.
Assess
Assess is about the information that underpins decisions. It involves measuring and valuing business impacts and dependencies on nature, which can inform the identification of material risks and opportunities. In A-Track such efforts are addressed by work on Biodiversity Information Pathways, and on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Footprinting. The goal is to develop a harmonised and consistent approach to access and apply the nature-related information needed by the private, finance and public sectors.
- Numerous companies are assessing their nature impacts and dependencies, risks and opportunities. Forico, an Australian forestry and landscape management company has released a series of natural capital reports since 2020. These reports – the result of measurements presented as corporate natural capital accounts - help to align company’s environmental outcomes with its financial performance, enabling better assessment of asset-related risks and more informed strategic and operational decisions.
Commit
Commit is about setting ambitions in line with goals and targets as proposed e.g., by the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) or the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and In A-Track, this is addressed by work on natural capital assessment and accounting which will build capacities to use data and metrics to support organizational change at individual, project, company and sector levels.
- A growing number of companies are committing to nature-related goals and targets. Ørsted, a Danish multinational energy company has made a strong commitment to construct and operate in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, transforming it from one of the most fossil fuel-intensive to one of the most sustainable energy companies in the world. In 2021, the company committed to achieve a net positive biodiversity impact from 2030, with baselines for priority biodiversity that enables measurement of net gains and losses.
Transform
Transform is about the action to achieve the ambition and focuses on the interconnection and interdependency of the key actors, working together to overcome barriers, identify opportunities and drive the innovation needed for the transition to occur, as proposed by the infinity loop graphic model. This includes ambitious government policy and regulation as well as market and competition rules to encourage business action. In A-Track, this is addressed by work on scaling up and adopting innovative business models and scaling finance that together contribute to nature positive outcomes.
- The financial system is increasingly recognizing nature’s value and addressing environmental risks in decision-making. Aviva Investor, a global investment company, established the Natural Capital Global Equity strategy in 2021, with the goal of providing long-term capital growth and supporting the transition to a nature positive economy. It has further encouraged companies to assess their impacts and dependencies on nature and to take nature-positive business decisions. Aviva has also supported use of risk management and analytics tools for assessment of nature-related risks of individual holdings, including deforestation risk, and negative and positive impacts and dependencies on biodiversity.
Disclose
Disclose is about sharing information about the transition and its nature-positive outcomes and making sure it aligns with recognised standards, reporting and disclosure guidelines. Revealing and clearly communicating risks, dependencies and impacts on nature is critically important for investors, stakeholders and regulators. It also reinforces the ACT-D cycle in support of nature-positive outcomes by informing investments and solutions. In A-Track this is addressed through the alignment of approaches, as well as through improving access to and application of nature information.
- Reporting on nature is not only increasingly mandated but perceived by business as a strategic advantage. Philipps, a Dutch multinational health technology company has a tradition of reporting on sustainability, most recently in compliance with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) in alignment with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU 2022/2464). This has included, for example, a double materiality assessment (i.e., financial and impact materiality) and reports on climate change, resource use, circular economy, and social issues. Understanding material impacts has enabled the company to prioritise actions with consideration of key stakeholders.
Other important concepts incorporated in the A-Track Conceptual Framework, include: maturity pathways, which reflect evolution in maturity on how business interact with nature, from risk mitigation (‘doing no harm’) to regenerative (contribution to social, in addition to environmental systems); and the transition curve, where incorporation of nature into decision-making is scaled over time – from preparing the groundwork, and accelerating the transition, to creating a new normal (where informed decisions are standard, usual, or expected. Social, economic and environmental factors are important drivers, pushing businesses and organizations to act to work on the transition to nature positive.
Over the next three years, A-Track will implement a set of case studies, demonstrations and pilots addressing the various elements of the A-Track Conceptual Framework. These will target all four key areas of action – Act, Commit, Transform, Disclose - and all key actors involved in the transition. We call on the community to join us in this effort and to contribute to the project’s long-term goal of halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 and achieving full recovery by 2050.