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How can businesses tell whether the ecosystems they depend on are healthy, deteriorating or recovering?
Unlike carbon emissions, there is no single metric that captures the state of nature. Understanding ecological conditions requires looking at everything from ecosystem extent and condition to species abundance, often drawing on different datasets and methodologies.
The Nature Positive Initiative (NPI) has taken an important step towards bringing consistency to this measurement, finalising four common State of Nature metrics designed to provide a shared foundation for understanding ecological conditions and tracking changes over time.
These metrics complement existing measures of impact drivers, such as land conversion, water use and pollution, helping businesses develop a more complete picture of their relationship with nature.
Four metrics for understanding the state of nature
NPI has identified four complementary indicators:
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Ecosystem extent: Measures the area covered by natural ecosystems and how this changes over time, helping to identify habitat loss, conversion and restoration. |
Ecosystem condition: Measures the health and integrity of ecosystems, as well as their connectivity across the surrounding landscape. |
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Species extinction risk: Assesses the significance of an area for species facing extinction, helping businesses understand where habitat protection and restoration could contribute to reducing global extinction risk. |
Species populations: Measures the abundance of species and changes in their populations over time, capturing aspects of biodiversity change that may not be apparent from ecosystem-level indicators alone. |
Together, these indicators provide a shared foundation for understanding ecological conditions across different locations and over time.
Why do these metrics matter for businesses?
A common approach to State of Nature measurement has three important implications for businesses.
1) Greater consistency and comparability
NPI's common metrics provide a shared reference point, helping businesses assess ecological conditions across different locations, monitor changes over time and communicate progress more consistently.
This is particularly valuable for financial institutions, which need consistent information to assess ecological conditions across diverse investment portfolios and identify locations where nature-related exposure may warrant further investigation.
2) A more complete picture of nature-related impacts
Impact driver metrics measure the pressures business activities place on nature, while State of Nature metrics provide complementary information about ecological conditions.
Together, they offer a more comprehensive picture of a business's relationship with nature, although attributing observed ecological changes to particular activities may require additional analysis.
3) Better-informed business decisions
Combining State of Nature metrics with assessments of dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities helps businesses understand where ecological change is most relevant to their activities.
This can inform decisions about sourcing, investment and where interventions could deliver the greatest benefits for both business and nature.
A common approach across TNFD and SBTN
The significance of NPI's metrics is reinforced by their growing integration into other leading nature frameworks.
The latest Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidance incorporates State of Nature indicators into its disclosure metrics, while the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) has updated its guidance to use these indicators when prioritising locations for nature-related target-setting.
This growing alignment creates a more consistent foundation for businesses seeking to connect nature assessment, reporting and target-setting.
The challenge of measuring nature at scale
While a common set of indicators is an important milestone, applying them consistently across business operations and global value chains remains challenging.
NPI's framework recognises this complexity by distinguishing between measurement at individual sites and across surrounding landscapes or seascapes. It also establishes three levels of measurement granularity: preparatory, medium and high, reflecting differences in data resolution and ecological detail.
Global datasets and modelled estimates provide a valuable way to assess nature across large numbers of locations. They enable organisations to identify patterns, understand ecological conditions and prioritise where further investigation may be needed. More detailed measurement, however, may require higher-resolution data, local ecological observations or direct surveys.
How Natcap can help
Natcap enables businesses and financial institutions to measure the state of nature at scale, across operations, value chains and investment portfolios.
Our platform combines scientifically grounded indicators of natural habitat extent, ecosystem integrity and species extinction risk, helping organisations understand ecological conditions across large numbers of locations.
By integrating these insights with assessments of nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities, Natcap helps businesses identify priority locations, understand potential exposures and make more informed decisions.
NPI’s guidance also specifically discusses the role of tools and data in enabling organisations to assess multiple sites. Measuring State of Nature metrics across multiple sites can be resource-intensive, particularly when each assessment requires separate data collection, spatial analysis, methodological decisions and technical expertise. As highlighted in the NPI guidance, scaling assessments across sites creates opportunities to streamline these activities, reduce duplication and share learnings.
From measurement to action
NPI's finalised metrics are an important step towards bringing greater consistency to nature measurement. The opportunity now is to translate this common approach into practical assessments across business operations, value chains and investment portfolios.
By combining State of Nature indicators with existing measures of nature-related pressures, businesses can build a more complete understanding of their relationship with nature and make better-informed decisions.
Interested in measuring the state of nature across your operations, value chain or investment portfolio? Get in touch with Natcap to explore how we can help.