Guiding principles for corporate climate leadership on the role of nature-based solutions

The guide outlines five principles for corporate climate leadership: reducing emissions in own business, cutting land-based emissions in value chains, investing in nature-based solutions beyond value chains, ensuring responsible policy engagement, and reporting transparently. It emphasizes that investments in nature-based solutions, such as high-quality carbon credits, must complement rather than replace deep decarbonization efforts. The document argues that scaling these investments is essential to meet Paris Agreement goals, noting that nature-based solutions currently receive only 3% of climate finance despite representing about 30% of the climate solution.

• To limit global warming to 1.5°C, four critical actions are required: halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, reaching net zero emissions from farming, deforestation, and other land use by 2030, investing in nature protection for carbon storage, and investing in carbon capture technologies.
• Corporate climate leadership requires a dual approach: cutting emissions within value chains by at least 90% through clean energy, transport, and regenerative food systems, while simultaneously scaling investments in nature protection and restoration beyond those value chains.
• Companies should invest in nature-based climate solutions annually at a level equivalent to their unabated emissions (emissions not yet cut). If the top 1,700 emitters compensated for 10% of these annual unabated value chain emissions, it could raise up to $1 trillion for nature protection by 2030 and preserve over 10% of the remaining 1.5°C carbon budget.
• Nature-based solutions are significantly underfunded, receiving only 3% of climate finance despite representing approximately 30% of the climate solution. Consequently, companies are urged to prioritize high-quality nature-based carbon credits, such as jurisdictional REDD+.
• Investments in carbon credits must not be used as offsets for emissions that companies have committed to cut via science-based targets; they must be reported separately from annual greenhouse gas emissions reports and used in addition to, not as a substitute for, decarbonization.
• Corporate leadership includes responsible policy engagement to address the root causes of nature loss, which are often linked to weak governance, subsidies, and perverse policy incentives.

APA

We Mean Business Coalition (2022). Guiding principles for corporate climate leadership on the role of nature-based solutions. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Guiding-principles-for-corporate-climate-leadership-on-the-role-of-nature-based-climate-solutions.pdf

Chicago

We Mean Business Coalition. Guiding principles for corporate climate leadership on the role of nature-based solutions. 2022. https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Guiding-principles-for-corporate-climate-leadership-on-the-role-of-nature-based-climate-solutions.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=We Mean Business Coalition |title=Guiding principles for corporate climate leadership on the role of nature-based solutions |date=December 2022 |url=https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Guiding-principles-for-corporate-climate-leadership-on-the-role-of-nature-based-climate-solutions.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wemeanbusinesscoalition2022guiding, author = {{We Mean Business Coalition}}, title = {{Guiding principles for corporate climate leadership on the role of nature-based solutions}}, institution = {We Mean Business Coalition}, year = {2022}, month = dec, url = {https://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Guiding-principles-for-corporate-climate-leadership-on-the-role-of-nature-based-climate-solutions.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }