SBTN

The global push for corporate sustainability has reached a critical inflection point. While carbon reduction remains a vital priority, it represents only one facet of the ecological crisis facing our planet. To address the systemic loss of biodiversity and the depletion of freshwater systems, a more holistic framework is required: SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate.

This initiative builds on the success of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) by providing a rigorous, data-driven pathway for businesses to manage their impacts on land, water, and biodiversity. As supply chain complexity increases, the transition from voluntary reporting to verified, actionable performance is no longer optional. It is a strategic necessity for long-term operational resilience.

Key Takeaways

• SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate helps companies set targets for nature across freshwater, land, and oceans, while one of its goals is to integrate climate and nature-related target setting alongside climate.
• It bridges the gap between high-level ESG goals and primary-source verified environmental outcomes.
• SBTN’s five-step process for target setting is: Assess, Prioritise, Measure, Act, and Track.
• Companies must achieve deep-tier visibility to accurately map impacts across complex, globalised supply chains.
• Compliance with SBTN protocols prepares organisations for emerging regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
• Radical transparency and systemic change are the core drivers of the SBTN approach.

Defining SBTN and Its Scope

The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) is a collaboration of leading global non-profits, mission-driven organizations, and other partners that helps companies set measurable science-based targets for nature. Its primary purpose is to define what it means for a company to do its “fair share” in protecting the global commons. Unlike traditional CSR initiatives, SBTN targets are grounded in the best available science, ensuring that corporate actions are proportionate to the ecological needs of specific biomes.

For a sustainability director, this means moving beyond general “eco-friendly” claims and towards nature-positive outcomes. The framework is designed to enable companies to set comprehensive science based targets across five environmental domains. The framework focuses on five key domains: Climate, Freshwater, Land, Ocean, and Biodiversity, with initial methods and guidance informed by contributions from over 200 organizations. By integrating these metrics, we enable businesses to mitigate physical and reputational risks while ensuring compliance with international benchmarks.

Domain	Core Objective	Key Metric Examples
Freshwater	Ensure water security and quality and maintain ecological flows.	Withdrawal volumes, nitrogen/phosphorus loading.
Land	Protect forests, restore degraded soil, and improve land footprint.	Deforestation-free volumes, hectares of restored habitat.
Biologisk mångfald	Halt and reverse the loss of species and ecosystem integrity.	Species richness, habitat connectivity connectivity.
Oceans	Sustainable fisheries and ocean health (Framework under development).	Marine pollution levels, sustainable harvest rates.

Why SBTN is a Strategic Necessity

The shift toward SBTN-aligned targets is driven by the reality that climate change does not occur in a vacuum. The climate and nature crises are deeply interrelated: ecosystem degradation accelerates global warming, and conversely, climate change exacerbates nature loss. In line with the scientific consensus, halting nature loss is essential to limiting global warming to 1.5C. Organizations that ignore this nexus face systemic risk within their procurement networks. High-level leadership must recognise that “green” marketing is an archaic tool in an era of verified performance.

Furthermore, regulatory pressure is intensifying. The EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the CSRD require companies to possess deep-tier visibility into their origins. SBTN provides the technical methodology to satisfy these requirements, transforming compliance from a cost centre into a competitive advantage through radical transparency. It also strengthens business value, since over 55% of global GDP depends on nature and a stronger nature strategy supports long-term resilience.

The SBTN Five-Step Methodology

Implementing SBTN uses a structured approach to assessing environmental impacts across the entire value chain, and it demands high-quality data and professional expertise. We advise our partners to view this structure as the key mechanism for building science based targets and guiding target implementation through continuous primary-source verification and impact improvement.

Step 1: Assess Environmental Impacts

The first stage involves a high-level screening to determine a company’s “blueprints” across the value chain, the starting point of its nature journey. Organizations must look beyond their direct operations (Scope 1) and assess impacts across the entire value chain, not only the upstream supply chain. This requires a comprehensive materiality assessment that identifies where the most significant pressure on nature occurs.

• Identify key commodities and sourcing regions.
• Apply sector-level impact data to estimate environmental pressure.
• Conduct a value chain mapping exercise to pinpoint hotspots.

Step 2: Prioritisation and Location Mapping

Nature impact is inherently local. Unlike a tonne of carbon, which has the same global warming potential regardless of where it is emitted, a litre of water drawn from a water-scarce basin in Spain has a different impact than a litre drawn in Scotland. SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate emphasises the importance of geolocation.

Companies must prioritise “Target Boundary” locations where their impact is highest and where the local ecosystem is most vulnerable. This necessitates deep-tier visibility, often reaching down to the farm or forest level. We assist clients in this stage by using proven analytical tools to map these complex relationships.

Step 3: Measure, Value, and Benchmark

Once hotspots are identified, baseline data must be collected. This is often where companies encounter significant hurdles, as secondary data is frequently insufficient. Verified primary-source data is the only way to ensure that the corporate targets set are meaningful and defensible against accusations of greenwashing.

In this phase, we collect specific metrics such as water use intensity, fertiliser application rates, and land conversion history. These figures are then compared against the ecological threshold of the specific region—the limit of what the local environment can sustain, a benchmark that reflects scientific rigor in how targets are measured and defended.

Step 4: Act (The Mitigation Hierarchy)

Setting the target is only the beginning, and the earliest validated action areas focus on freshwater and land targets. Action must follow a structured hierarchy. You must first Avoid negative impacts, then Reduce those that cannot be avoided, Regenerate and Restore ecosystems, and finally Transform systemic practices. This approach ensures that companies are not merely offsetting damage but are actively contributing to a sustained positive impact.

1. Avoid: Stop sourcing from areas with high biodiversity value to help preserve freshwater resources.
2. Reduce: Implement precision agriculture to lower chemical runoff and support future land targets.
3. Restore: Invest in local reforestation projects within the supply chain to regenerate land; SBTN’s first targets emphasize freshwater quality and quantity as well as land ecosystem restoration.
4. Transform: Lobby for better sector-wide environmental standards, since SBTN’s targets focus on freshwater quality and land ecosystem restoration.

Step 5: Track and Report

The final step covers continuous monitoring, reporting, and implementing science based targets through transparent progress tracking. Transparency is the cornerstone of the SBTN framework. Publicly disclosing progress through verified reports builds trust with stakeholders, investors, and regulators, while SBTN’s guidance helps companies monitor and report progress on environmental goals. It demonstrates that the organisation’s commitment to sustainability is backed by systemic evidence rather than mere sentiment.

Companies can submit targets for validation starting in early 2024, making the validation process increasingly formalized and supporting accountability around validated targets.

Advanced Strategic Insights for Compliance Officers

Navigating the requirements of SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate requires a shift in how procurement and sustainability teams interact. These departments must function as a unified front, where purchasing decisions are dictated by environmental data as much as by price and quality.

The Role of Deep-Tier Visibility

Most corporate impact sits across extended value chains, especially in Tier 2, Tier 3, and beyond, so deep-tier visibility is critical to address nature loss before degradation spreads through sourcing regions. Relying on “black box” suppliers is no longer viable. To set a science-based target for land or water, you must know exactly where your raw materials originate. This level of radical transparency requires robust digital infrastructure and a commitment to audited supply chain mapping.

Without primary-source verification, any target set is effectively a placeholder. We recommend that organisations invest in on-the-ground verification to corroborate supplier-provided data, ensuring that the metrics used for SBTN reporting are accurate and actionable. SBTN aims to prevent degradation of global ecosystems through corporate actions, and that same visibility helps companies anticipate supply chain disruptions and mitigate supply chain disruptions tied to ecosystem decline.

Integrating SBTN with Financial Disclosure

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is rapidly becoming the gold standard for environmental risk reporting. SBTN provides the technical target-setting methodology that supports the TNFD framework, complements existing climate targets, and helps businesses comply with international sustainability standards through more robust nature-related disclosures that can be embedded in business strategies. By aligning these two, companies can present a comprehensive picture of nature-related risks and opportunities to their shareholders, and with more than 2,600 companies already having set science-based climate targets, nature target integration is a logical next step for financial institutions and corporate reporting teams.

// Example: Conceptual SBTN Target Alignment
{
  "Target_ID": "WT-001",
  "Domain": "Freshwater",
  "Region": "Guadalquivir Basin, Spain",
  "Baseline_Use": "500,000 m3",
  "Science_Based_Threshold": "350,000 m3",
  "Reduction_Required": "30%",
  "Verification_Source": "Smart Meter Data + Local Audit"
}

Overcoming Data Silos

A common mistake in large enterprises is keeping environmental data isolated within the sustainability department, when actionable metrics should be embedded in core business strategies rather than left with sustainability teams alone. To be actionable, SBTN metrics must be integrated into procurement software and ERP systems. When a procurement officer can see the “nature-risk score” of a supplier in real-time, the organisation moves from reactive reporting to proactive risk mitigation, underscoring the critical importance of this integration for target implementation across procurement decisions.

Risks of Non-Alignment

Choosing not to align with SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate carries substantial strategic risks. As the market matures, the definition of “due diligence” is evolving. Failure to account for biodiversity and water impacts is increasingly viewed as a breach of fiduciary duty by institutional investors.

1. Regulatory Sanctions

With the introduction of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), companies will be legally responsible for environmental violations in their supply chains. SBTN provides the evidence base required to prove that “reasonable measures” were taken to prevent damage, while also supporting alignment with global goals such as the global biodiversity framework and related international expectations.

2. Operational Vulnerability

Nature loss creates physical risks. Water shortages can halt production; soil degradation can lead to crop failures and price volatility, and because nature underpins human well being and economic activity, these operational shocks can escalate quickly. SBTN helps you identify these vulnerabilities before they manifest as financial losses, allowing for systemic resilience planning, with direct business consequences because over 55% of global GDP is highly dependent on nature crises.

3. Reputational Devaluation

Sophisticated consumers and NGOs are increasingly adept at identifying superficial sustainability claims. Using the SBTN framework allows you to communicate your progress with unflinching professional integrity, backed by data that can withstand external scrutiny, as sophisticated audiences increasingly expect scientifically grounded claims supported by validated targets. Transparent reporting is especially important for business leaders managing public commitments.

Best Practices for Implementing SBTN

To ensure a successful rollout, we recommend the following strategic pillars be established within the corporate structure:

• Executive Governance: Ensure the H-level is accountable for nature targets alongside climate, with oversight that reflects the need for companies to halve emissions and reverse nature loss by 2030.
• Supplier Engagement: Move beyond surveys. Collaborative capacity building is necessary to help farmers and producers meet these rigorous standards through company-wide implementation, as the SBTN aims to address nature loss and climate change together.
• Incrementalism is Not Enough: Focus on systemic change rather than marginal efficiency gains. This means using SBTN frameworks to address nature across the business, not through isolated projects, and it might involve redesigning products to eliminate high-impact ingredients entirely.
• Utilise External Verification: Engage third-party experts to audit your data. Proven impact is only credible when verified independently.

The Economic Case for Nature-Based Targets

Investing in nature is not purely an altruistic endeavour; it is a defensive move to protect the long-term viability of your supply chain, and protecting the natural environment has direct commercial relevance because nature absorbs approximately half of the planet’s carbon emissions annually. SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate enables a more accurate valuation of natural capital as part of the broader business value of science-based nature action. By internalising these environmental costs, companies can make better-informed capital allocation decisions that favour sustainable growth over short-term exploitation.

Comparing SBTi and SBTN

It is important to distinguish between the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and SBTN. While both fall under the same broader umbrella of science-based action, their focuses differ. SBTi is exclusively focused on greenhouse gas emissions and the 1.5°C Paris Agreement pathway. SBTN expands this rigour to the rest of the environmental spectrum and helps companies set science based targets for nature; SBTN launched the first science based targets for nature on May 24, 2023, while SBTi remains focused on climate.

Companies could begin submitting targets for validation in early 2024.

Feature	SBTi (Climate)	SBTN (Nature)
Fokus	GHG Emissions / Global Warming	Freshwater, Land, Biodiversity, Oceans
Geography	Global (Climate is location-agnostic)	Highly Local (Impact depends on location)
Verifiering	Carbon accounting (Scopes 1, 2, 3)	Biological and hydrological metrics
Goal	Net Zero by 2050	Nature Positive / Staying within boundaries

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SBTN mandatory for large companies?

While SBTN itself is a voluntary framework, the methodologies it employs are increasingly being integrated into mandatory regulatory disclosure requirements such as the CSRD and EUDR. For large-scale enterprises with complex supply chains, adopting SBTN is the most reliable way to ensure long-term regulatory compliance and systemic risk mitigation.

How does SBTN interact with existing ESG ratings?

ESG ratings often rely on self-reported, qualitative data which can be prone to bias. SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate provides a quantitative, science-based foundation. Aligning with SBTN will typically improve an organisation’s standing with high-quality ESG indices because it demonstrates a commitment to verified, actionable data.

Can SMEs use the SBTN framework?

The current technical guidance is primarily designed for large enterprises with significant environmental footprints. However, SMEs often occupy critical nodes in the supply chains of these larger firms and are often part of the same organizations or engagement ecosystems that larger companies rely on for target data and implementation support. We recommend that SMEs familiarise themselves with SBTN principles now, as their larger clients will soon require deep-tier visibility and primary-source data to meet their own targets, encouraging companies across the supply base to prepare for nature-related target requests.

What is the biggest challenge in implementing SBTN?

The primary hurdle is almost always data quality and traceability. Many organisations do not have visibility beyond their Tier 1 suppliers, and in 2023 the validation process was tested through a pilot involving seventeen companies, helping refine target implementation requirements for land and water targets. Achieving the level of granularity required for land and water targets (Step 2 and 3) requires a rigorous supply chain mapping process and active cooperation from suppliers at the source.

How often should SBTN targets be reviewed?

In line with the radical transparency we advocate, targets should be reviewed annually against performance data. However, a formal re-baselining should occur every five years—or sooner if there are significant changes to the company’s structure or if new scientific breakthroughs alter our understanding of ecological thresholds.

Does SBTN cover social issues like modern slavery?

SBTN is strictly focused on environmental boundaries. However, systemic sustainability requires an integrated approach. The data collection processes required for SBTN—such as supply chain mapping—often reveal the same risks associated with human rights abuses. We advise companies to leverage their SBTN data collection efforts to simultaneously address social due diligence.

The transition to a nature-positive economy is a monumental challenge, but it is one that also offers unparalleled opportunities for ethical change and long-term security. By embracing SBTN — Science Based Targets Network helping companies set environmental targets beyond climate, you are not just checking a box; you are ensuring that your business operates within the physical limits of our planet, securing the future for your shareholders and the global community alike.