Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN)
Setting ambition grounded in science
The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) is developing the nature equivalent of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for climate. Its mission is to provide companies and cities with a methodologically rigorous, science-grounded framework for setting targets to halt and reverse nature loss. SBTN targets are designed to be verifiable, comparable, and aligned with global biodiversity policy goals.
Why Science-Based Targets for Nature?
Voluntary corporate commitments on biodiversity have proliferated since 2015, but most have lacked scientific rigour. Pledges to "protect X hectares" or "achieve net positive impact on biodiversity" have often been unverifiable, inconsistent in methodology, and disconnected from what science indicates is actually needed to halt biodiversity loss at a global level. The SBTN framework addresses these shortcomings by grounding targets in ecological science and connecting them to global thresholds.
The critical distinction between science-based targets and conventional voluntary commitments is that science-based targets must be sufficient. A climate science-based target must represent a Paris Agreement-consistent emissions trajectory. A nature science-based target must represent a contribution sufficient to keep nature within the bounds needed to maintain functioning ecosystems. This sufficiency criterion is what makes science-based targets genuinely meaningful rather than simply aspirational.
The Five-Step SBTN Framework
SBTN organises the corporate target-setting process into five steps, aligned with a progression from understanding to accountability:
| Step | Name | What It Involves | LEAP Alignment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assess | Understand dependencies and impacts on nature across the value chain; identify priority locations and issues | Locate and Evaluate phases |
| 2 | Commit | Commit publicly to setting science-based targets for nature within a defined timeframe | Prepare phase (governance) |
| 3 | Act | Set specific, measurable targets aligned with SBTN methods; develop and implement action plans | Prepare phase (targets and strategy) |
| 4 | Track | Monitor progress against targets using agreed metrics and methodologies | Prepare phase (metrics and monitoring) |
| 5 | Disclose | Report publicly on targets, actions, and progress; seek third-party verification | Prepare phase (disclosure) |
How SBTN Differs from SBTi for Climate
Setting science-based targets for nature is fundamentally more complex than for climate, for reasons deeply embedded in the nature of biodiversity itself. The SBTN website articulates five key differences:
- No single global goal: For climate, the 1.5°C target provides a universal anchor. For nature, the KM-GBF provides multiple targets across different dimensions, making it harder to derive a single quantitative backstop for corporate targets.
- Multiple drivers, not one metric: Climate targets centre on GHG emissions. Nature loss has five direct drivers (land use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species), requiring targets across multiple dimensions simultaneously.
- Multiple indicators: For climate, the indicator is GHG concentration. For nature, relevant indicators span biodiversity, water quantity, land condition, ocean health, and genetic diversity.
- Location-specificity: Climate action is fungible - a tonne of CO₂ reduced anywhere has equal global value. Nature action is inherently local - what matters is protecting and restoring the right habitats in the right places, not achieving an aggregated global number.
- Bidirectional action required: Climate targets focus primarily on reducing negative emissions. Nature targets require both stopping harmful activities and actively restoring and regenerating natural systems.
The AR3T Hierarchy: A Framework for Nature Action
Central to SBTN's approach to target setting is the AR3T hierarchy, which stands for Avoid, Reduce, Restore, Regenerate, and Transform. This hierarchy organises nature actions by their strategic ambition and ecological value, drawing on the well-established mitigation hierarchy from biodiversity offsetting practice but extending it with positive restoration and systemic transformation.
AR3T as a Ladder of Ambition
Think of AR3T as a ladder where each rung represents a higher level of ambition. At the bottom rung, you avoid causing new harm - stopping the most damaging practices. Moving up, you reduce existing impacts through operational improvements. Higher still, you restore degraded ecosystems in or near your value chain. Approaching the top, you invest in regenerative practices that actively rebuild natural capital. At the apex, you Transform your business model and engage your sector peers and policymakers to shift the system. SBTN targets should aspire to the higher rungs, not just claim credit for avoiding what would have been illegal anyway.
Freshwater Targets
SBTN has published its first complete target-setting guidance for freshwater, covering surface water and groundwater systems. Freshwater biodiversity is critically threatened: populations of freshwater vertebrate species have declined by an average of 83% since 1970, the sharpest decline of any ecological group. Freshwater systems host around 10% of all known species despite covering less than 1% of Earth's surface.
SBTN's freshwater targets are structured around three dimensions: water quantity (volumetric withdrawals relative to sustainable yield limits), water quality (pollutant loads relative to ecological thresholds), and ecosystem flow timing (maintaining environmental flow regimes sufficient to support aquatic biodiversity). Targets must be set at the catchment level to reflect the location-specific nature of water systems. A company operating across multiple river basins therefore needs basin-by-basin freshwater targets rather than a single aggregate figure.
Land Targets
SBTN's land target guidance addresses the terrestrial dimension of nature and focuses on preventing biodiversity loss from land use change and degradation. The land framework distinguishes three action areas: protect (maintaining the ecological integrity of natural ecosystems), restore (recovering degraded ecosystems to higher ecological function), and transform (shifting agricultural and production practices to reduce impact).
A key innovation in SBTN's land approach is the emphasis on location-specific targets. Rather than setting generic global targets (e.g., "protect X% of our land footprint"), companies must identify the specific landscapes where their activities have the greatest impact and set targets tied to those locations. This reflects the fundamental ecological reality that a hectare of intact tropical forest is not equivalent in biodiversity value to a hectare of temperate agricultural land.
Example: A Consumer Goods Company Setting SBTN-Aligned Targets
Following the SBTN Assess step, a consumer goods company identifies that its greatest land-related impact is in Brazilian Cerrado (savanna), where soy grown for its product ingredients drives conversion of native vegetation. Its greatest freshwater impact is in the Indus River Basin, where cotton cultivation withdraws water above sustainable yield levels.
Using SBTN land guidance, the company sets a target of zero conversion of native Cerrado vegetation in its soy supply chain by 2025, verified through satellite monitoring. Using SBTN freshwater guidance, it sets a target of 30% reduction in net water withdrawal intensity in the Indus Basin by 2030, achieved through supplier efficiency support and water recycling in its owned facilities. Both targets are location-specific, time-bound, and calibrated against SBTN's scientific thresholds rather than arbitrary round numbers.
TNFD and SBTN: Complementary Frameworks
TNFD and SBTN are designed to work together. TNFD provides the risk management and disclosure framework; SBTN provides the target-setting methodology. A company can use TNFD's LEAP approach to assess its nature-related issues and then use SBTN methods to set science-based targets for the most material areas. The Prepare phase of LEAP explicitly encourages SBTN-aligned target setting, and the two organisations have published joint guidance for corporates on aligning their processes.
A growing number of companies have publicly committed to SBTN targets alongside TNFD adoption. By early 2024, over 300 companies had made formal SBTN commitments across multiple sectors including food and beverage, apparel, chemicals, and financial services. The TNFD's 2023 Status Report noted that SBTN target setting is increasingly expected by investors and regulators as the evidence base for corporate nature ambition.
SBTN's Step 1 Assess guidance (published in 2023) provides detailed technical direction for conducting the nature assessment that underpins target setting. It organises the assessment around the five key realms of nature: land, freshwater, ocean, atmosphere, and biodiversity (as a cross-cutting dimension). For each realm, it specifies priority indicators, data sources, and methods for identifying where company impacts are most significant and where science-based targets are most needed. The guidance explicitly recognises that most companies cannot assess all realms in equal depth in their first cycle, and prioritises based on sector materiality. Food, agriculture, and forestry companies should focus first on land and freshwater; extractives and infrastructure companies on land and water; financial institutions on the aggregate exposure of their portfolios across all realms.
Key Takeaways
- 1SBTN provides the nature equivalent of SBTi - a science-grounded framework for corporate biodiversity target setting aligned with global policy goals, structured around five steps: Assess, Commit, Act, Track, and Disclose
- 2Science-based nature targets are more complex than climate targets because nature loss has five drivers (not one), requires multiple indicators (not one metric), is inherently location-specific, and demands both stopping harm and actively restoring natural systems
- 3The AR3T hierarchy - Avoid, Reduce, Restore, Regenerate, Transform - organises nature actions by strategic ambition, with transformation of business systems representing the highest level of ambition
- 4SBTN freshwater targets must be set at the catchment level across three dimensions: water quantity, water quality, and ecosystem flow timing; freshwater vertebrate populations have declined by 83% since 1970
- 5TNFD and SBTN are designed to work together: TNFD provides the risk management and disclosure framework while SBTN provides the target-setting methodology, with joint guidance published for corporates on aligning the two approaches