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PTNature and Climate: The urgency of integrated action to tackle the dual planetary crisis
The intensification of extreme weather events and the loss of global biodiversity are intertwined in an unprecedented systemic ecological crisis, requiring coordinated and urgent responses in nature and climate. Human activities such as deforestation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have already impacted more than 75% of terrestrial ecosystems and 66% of marine ecosystems (IPBES, 2019). These processes not only compromise the planet’s climate resilience, but also lead to species extinction at a rate higher than the natural rate (Pimm et al., 2014; Portner et al., 2023).
The Living Planet Report 2024, prepared by WWF, pointed to an average decline of approximately 70% in monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2020, reinforcing the ongoing ecological collapse (WWF, 2024). Latin America leads this decline, with a 94% reduction, driven mainly by the loss of natural habitats.
Although climate change mitigation already occupies a prominent place in corporate commitments and public policies, the agenda for nature and biodiversity conservation and restoration has gained traction more recently. This is because nature is not just an environmental asset: it is the foundation of the natural capital on which the entire economy depends. It is estimated that more than half of global GDP—approximately US$58 trillion—is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its ecosystem services, such as pollination, climate regulation, and water provision (PwC, 2023).
This interdependence makes biodiversity loss a systemic financial risk. In response, regulators, investors, and companies have been mobilizing frameworks, guidelines, and metrics to integrate nature into corporate governance. The main initiative in this effort is the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), agreed upon at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Kunming-Montreal, 2022).
GBF: A Paris Agreement for nature
The GBF sets four objectives and 23 global targets for 2030, including target 15, which requires all large companies and financial institutions to assess, monitor, and disclose their risks, impacts, and dependencies on nature. The goal is to align economic activity with biodiversity conservation, in a move analogous to the transparency promoted by the Paris Agreement on climate change.
However, as with the climate agenda, the implementation of the GBF targets depends on one critical component: financing. It is estimated that US$ 200 billion per year will need to be mobilized by 2030 to achieve the agreement’s objectives. Although this amount represents a fraction of global investment in infrastructure and energy, the financing gap for biodiversity is wide.
Significant progress was made in the second part of COP16, held in Rome in February 2025. The Parties agreed on a new resource mobilization strategy, which includes consolidating a permanent CBD financial mechanism, strengthening existing financial instruments, and increasing the participation of the private sector, philanthropy, and multilateral development banks.
Corporate transparency: TNFD and SBTN
Complementing intergovernmental commitments, companies have been adopting voluntary initiatives to internalize nature-related risks and dependencies. The most robust of these is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), officially launched in 2023 after two years of development. Inspired by the TCFD, the TNFD provides a structured framework for companies to identify, assess and report financial risks related to nature. At COP16 (2024), more than 500 financial and corporate institutions announced their voluntary commitment to the TNFD, signaling a turning point in the maturity of the agenda.
The Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN) acts as the technical arm of the SBTi for nature, offering a scientific methodology for companies to set measurable preservation and restoration goals. Since its launch in 2023, the SBTN has proposed a five-step process for organizations to assess impacts, prioritize areas of action, set science-based targets, and monitor progress.
References
IPBES (2019). Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. https://ipbes.net/global-assessment
Pimm, S. L., Jenkins, C. N., Abell, R., Brooks, T. M., Gittleman, J. L., Joppa, L. N., … & Sexton, J. O. (2014). The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection. Science, 344 (6187).
Pörtner, H. O., Scholes, R. J., Arneth, A., Barnes, D. K. A., Burrows, M. T., Diamond, S. E., … & Val, A. L. (2023). Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts. Science, 380 (6642).
WWF (2024). Living Planet Report 2024 – Building a nature-positive society. https://livingplanet.panda.org
PWC. (2023). Managing nature risks: From understanding to action. http://www.pwc.com/managing-nature-risks
Richardson, K., Steffen, W., Lucht, W., Bendtsen, J., Cornell, S. E., Donges, J. F., … & Rockström, J. (2023). Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Science advances, 9 (37). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
