SBTs for nature
How are they developed?
Technical guidance published by SBTN is developed through rigorous review and piloting involving our NGO and corporate partners, as well as a public consultation process. It is developed iteratively, constantly evolving with feedback from partners, stakeholders and experts in our multi-stakeholder review process.
With SBTN’s guidance reflecting consensus within the Network’s NGO and environmental consulting community—companies have the confidence that their actions are aligned with best practice among sustainability practitioners.
Nature hubs within SBTN covering biodiversity, freshwater, land, and ocean (with SBTi as our external climate hub) led by various NGO partners are responsible for developing the different methods that feed into science-based targets for nature. A cross-cutting technical team from the core SBTN Network team sits across these hubs.
All technical guidance within the first release of science-based targets for nature in 2023 went through the following stages of review:
- internal technical consultation
- corporate engagement consultation
- public consultation, and
- an external expert review panel.
Insights were incorporated from 180+ companies, consultancies, and industry coalitions, along with feedback through public consultations from 100+ organizations including the world’s leading environmental and human rights NGOs, governmental organizations, and academic institutions.
The result is a set of resources that aims to balance scientific rigor with practicality, and represents best practice from the perspective of both the corporate sector and civil society.
Explore our stakeholder review process below.
An initial group of 17 global companies—selected for their readiness, applicability, and potential for positive impact—are setting the first science-based targets for nature, beginning with freshwater and land. These companies represent sectors and supply chains with a high impact on nature, and results from this pilot will be of critical value toward the roll-out of the target validation process in 2024.
