Nature Positive Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions 2025

Three dimensions of client nature transition information Financial institutions might find it helpful to consider three progressive dimensions of information along 11 indicators, which are based on approaches used today by financial institutions to assess climate transition plans: 1. Company starting point: Financial institutions are eager to form a view on where companies stand on nature and how they are exposed to nature-related risk. Many companies begin by assessing impacts and dependencies as well as associated risks and opportunities to determine materiality of nature-related issues, and have started to report on some key nature-related metrics such as water use. 2. Company ambition and targets: Financial institutions would like to see their portfolio companies and clients develop and articulate ambitions and, over time, set targets for material nature-related issues. This would provide important information on the degree of transformation companies are seeking to achieve and indicate the areas where they may require support during the nature-positive transition.3. Transition credibility and achievability: Financial institutions would like to see proof points that demonstrate that nature ambitions and targets are being embedded into the company’s activities, such as integration of nature into company policies and credible action plans that are in place and on track. This would help financial institutions to form a view on whether a company’s targets are likely to be achieved and where opportunities might exist to support them. This report distinguishes between two types of indicators of information available for financial institutions to assess companies on nature. These are: “interim” indicators and “target-state” indicators. Interim indicators consist of streamlined information categories that can be effectively used today, while target-state indicators represent information that financial institutions hope to see readily available in the near future when company maturity on nature has increased. In the following sections, this report will outline a practical approach financial institutions can follow to assess companies on nature using indicators presented in Figure 5. These sections will provide case studies and examples to illustrate this concept. Financial institutions would like to see proof points that demonstrate that nature ambitions and targets are being embedded into the company’s activities. Nature Positive: Corporate Assessment Guide for Financial Institutions 13