Step 5. Track

Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) related activities occur throughout the SBT-setting process:

First, while measuring impacts on nature (Step 1),
Next, while deciding which locations to prioritize (Step 2),
Then, while collecting baseline data and disclosing this when targets are set (Step 3),
Throughout the process of acting on your SBTs for nature (Step 4), companies will track and report on their progress (Step 5).

Throughout these steps we encourage public disclosure through your own reporting including results of your organization’s materiality and value chain assessment and baseline data for targets.

MRV guidance related to implementing Steps 1-2 and setting freshwater and land targets (Step 3) are covered as part of our first release in 2023. However, detailed MRV guidance for companies in the process of acting on science-based targets for nature is under development.

It is critical for your company to track and report on its progress to ensure its accountability and the integrity of the validated targets. As an interim solution, companies within the initial target validation group who are setting targets in 2023 will use an action plan to both outline the actions they will take to implement their targets as well as their plan for monitoring progress. This action plan can then be refined and used by companies once the validation pilot concludes in 2024, prior to full MRV guidance to target implementation.

Depending on the type of targets that have been defined and the scale (e.g., site versus value chain) at which they apply, appropriate monitoring and measurement approaches will vary. Further, the different types of actions associated with Step 4—avoid, reduce, regenerate, restore, and transform—will likely require different types of targets and indicators; targets focused on reducing impacts, such as pollution reductions, require different indicators than targets for restoring and regenerating nature.

We envision that the mix of indicators for some companies and environmental pressures will include a mix of state monitoring at site level, pressure reduction targets at site or company level, and additional response targets,

Once SBTN has an established MRV system in place, we will begin to formalize requirements about corporate reporting (e.g. to SBTN or other parties), as well as share results of progress gleaned through monitoring (e.g. through satellite or other technologies) and through verification (e.g. through third-party actors engaged by companies to assess their progress).