Posted on December, 05 2024

A new WWF report offers recommendations for establishing a strong nature transition plan in line with market initiative standards that respond to the urgent need for bold action.

Under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), companies are required to disclose their material nature information as well as a biodiversity plan. Entitled "Catalysing Change: The Urgent Need for Nature Transition Plans", this report provides support to organisations for the creation of Nature Transition Plans. These plans are essential for aligning business practices with global biodiversity goals, especially in light of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The aim is to assist companies in addressing nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities, by providing best practices and tools to foster transition planning.

According to Antoine Pugliese, Head of Sustainable Finance at WWF France: 
“The development of Nature Transition Plans is not optional, but rather something  companies must do in order to stay ahead of the curve in addressing their environmental impacts. With the right methodologies and tools now in place, businesses can no longer afford to delay taking action. This report provides a clear, actionable path forward for organisations to align their practices with global nature goals.”

Sebastien Godinot, Senior Economist at WWF EU said: 
“Establishing a robust nature transition plan is a critical step towards aligning corporate practices with global and EU biodiversity goals. This report offers operational guidance and tools to support organisations in embedding nature considerations into their strategies, capex plans and actions. It's urgent to safeguard and restore ecosystems, strengthen market resilience, and achieve a sustainable future.”

Key Points of the Nature Transition Plan report:

1. Urgency of Nature Transition Plans implementation : Just as Climate Transition Plans are mandatory for addressing climate change, NTPs are equally crucial. The report stresses that nature loss and climate change are interlinked, and addressing both is key to reaching global environmental goals.
2. Operational guidance and tools are available: WWF provides recommendations on the use of existing guidelines (TNFD, SBTN, …) as well as tools to adopt credible nature transition plans consistently with CSRD and improve transparency on their environmental impact.
3. Developing a robust regulatory framework: The EU should establish an implementation guidance framework to support preparers (companies) and users of ESRS sustainability statements on the implementation of the nature disclosure requirements (related to the ESRS E2 to E5).

WWF urges the rapid implementation of these recommendations to empower real-economy entities and financial institutions in building credible nature transition plans. This will help ensure a coherent action-based approach with the aim of aligning their operations with the 2030 global and EU nature and climate objectives.

Notes to editor:
A Nature Transition Plan is a solid foundation for driving meaningful action towards the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. It helps organisations articulate how they plan to respond and contribute to the transition implied by the GBF as well as the CSRD disclosure requirements. 

This WWF report provides recommendations on how companies should approach nature transition planning, focusing on dependencies and impacts, setting science-based targets, and ensuring proper governance, while developing credible and financed action plans, with engagement strategy towards relevant internal and external stakeholders. The credibility of this transition plan is also ensured by the implementation of a rigorous monitoring and verification system. The report also proposes a set of external tools and guidance that can support the transition journey, stressing the importance of corporate actions.

This report follows two WWF reports on Corporate Climate Targets and Corporate Nature targets, and complements the guidelines provided by TNFD and GFANZ on the nature transition plan topic.