How Efficient Metrics and Expansive Incentives Can Scale Corporate Contributions to Nature

The briefing identifies a $700 billion annual biodiversity finance gap and argues that current corporate reporting frameworks are too complex and resource-intensive to scale private investment. It proposes complementing comprehensive standards with simplified, verifiable metrics—specifically hectare-based measurements—to lower barriers to entry, enable peer comparison, and unlock new financial incentives for companies to contribute positively to nature.

• There is a significant shortfall in biodiversity funding, with a total annual finance gap of $700 billion. Private sector contributions are notably low at $35 billion, compared to public funding which ranges between $124 billion and $143 billion.
• Current corporate nature reporting is fragmented and overly complex, with the Taskforce on Nature Financial Disclosures (TNFD) noting that companies utilize over 3,000 different metrics to describe nature-related outcomes, which hinders comparability and peer differentiation.
• Existing nature frameworks, such as the Natural Capital Protocol and the Science-Based Targets Network, are often too resource-intensive for broad corporate adoption. This creates high barriers to entry and fails to incentivize companies that cannot meet strict target thresholds to take any action, or those that do meet them to exceed them.
• The document proposes using hectare-based metrics as a simplified, transparent, and independently verifiable proxy for nature contributions. Such metrics can be monitored via satellite imagery, reducing the costs and complexities associated with detailed biodiversity assessments and avoiding issues like those found in forest carbon credits.
• Several existing initiatives already utilize hectare-based metrics to drive nature finance, including the UK government’s Sustainable Farming Incentives, which pays farmers 20 pounds ($27) per hectare, and Brazil’s Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF), which aims to raise $250 billion for payments based on hectares conserved.

APA

World Resources Institute (2024). How Efficient Metrics and Expansive Incentives Can Scale Corporate Contributions to Nature. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/metrics-incentives-corporate-contributions-nature

Chicago

World Resources Institute. How Efficient Metrics and Expansive Incentives Can Scale Corporate Contributions to Nature. 2024. https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/metrics-incentives-corporate-contributions-nature.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=How Efficient Metrics and Expansive Incentives Can Scale Corporate Contributions to Nature |date=16 October 2024 |url=https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/metrics-incentives-corporate-contributions-nature |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2024how, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{How Efficient Metrics and Expansive Incentives Can Scale Corporate Contributions to Nature}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www.wri.org/technical-perspectives/metrics-incentives-corporate-contributions-nature}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }