Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions

The report outlines a methodology for banks, investors, and insurers to evaluate corporate alignment with nature-positive goals, specifically the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It proposes 11 indicators divided into three dimensions: company starting point, ambition and targets, and transition credibility. The guide emphasizes leveraging existing climate assessment frameworks and emerging data from the TNFD and CSRD to identify material nature risks and opportunities.

• There is a massive disparity between nature-positive and nature-negative investments, with the private sector investing $35 billion annually in nature-positive projects compared to at least $5 trillion in nature-negative investments.
• Financial institutions identify data availability (86%) and data quality (78%) as the primary ecosystem barriers to increasing financing for the nature-positive transition.
• The guide establishes 11 indicators for assessing companies, categorized into three dimensions: 'Company starting point' (materiality, metrics), 'Company ambition and targets' (objectives, SMART targets), and 'Transition credibility and achievability' (strategy, policies, governance, incentives, spend, verification, and supplier engagement).
• Certain sectors, including agriculture, chemicals, mining, and metals, are more advanced in assessing and disclosing material nature-related issues due to their well-known impacts and dependencies.
• While many companies have high-level nature ambitions, science-based target setting is not yet mainstream; however, a pilot by the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) has seen 60% of its initial cohort receive validation.
• The report identifies a significant gap in executive compensation linked to nature; only 26% of a surveyed sample of 6,800 businesses have monetary incentives linked to water, 15% for forests, and 1% for biodiversity.
• Most European companies allocate less than 25% of their capital expenditures to green initiatives, suggesting that few companies currently have planned expenditures specifically dedicated to nature.
• The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is expected to significantly increase the availability of nature-related metrics from 2025 onwards for EU companies and global companies with significant EU operations.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Nature_Positive_Corporate_Assessment_Guide_for_Financial_Institutions_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Nature_Positive_Corporate_Assessment_Guide_for_Financial_Institutions_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions |date=April 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Nature_Positive_Corporate_Assessment_Guide_for_Financial_Institutions_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025nature, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Nature_Positive_Corporate_Assessment_Guide_for_Financial_Institutions_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }