Nature Positive Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions 2025

Through consultations with global financial institutions across banking, insurance and asset management, the World Economic Forum has developed a set of nature-related indicators that financial institutions can use to assess their portfolio companies and clients. The information collected will also prepare financial institutions to comply with future nature-related regulation. While the report outlines what indicators financial institutions seek to assess, it does not provide guidance on how financial institutions should evaluate the corporate information provided per indicator. Given the profound interconnection between nature and climate,20 this approach is closely linked to existing climate transition plan assessment frameworks already in use by many leading financial institutions – see Appendices (A2) for existing examples of climate assessment frameworks. Figure 5 outlines this perspective, evaluating how financial institutions aim to approach assessments of nature strategy and performance. While the nature assessment indicators are sector- agnostic overall, the relevance of the specific data points will vary according to the sector and the nature-related issues most material to a particular company. For example, targets and policies affecting freshwater use will most likely be more relevant to a company in the agriculture sector than one in the education sector, as indicated by the sector-specific heatmap shown in Table 1. Eleven indicators for financial institutions to assess companies on nature FIGURE 5 1Material nature impacts and dependencies, and risks and opportunities 2Nature metrics 3Nature ambition 4Nature targets 5Strategy and actions 6Policies 7Governance 8Incentives 9Planned spend 10Independent verification of actions 11Supplier engagement planInterim indicators Target-state indicatorsIndicators used by financial institutions to assess climate transition plansNature Climate Engagement planOffsetsCapital expenditure and climate research and developmentIncentivesGovernancePoliciesSector-specific actionsInterim and long-term GHG emission targets Ambition of targets (e.g. versus pathway)Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions baseline and evolution of emissions from baselineStarting points Ambition and targets Transition credibility and achievability Source: World Economic Forum; Oliver Wyman. Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions 12