10 Tips for a Fruitful Nature Strategy
Nature is fast becoming a strategic priority for businesses, and an effective strategy is essential. Ecosystems, biodiversity and natural resources underpin the global economy, with 55% of global GDP ($58 trillion) moderately or highly dependent on nature. Businesses that do not act to manage their impacts on nature jeopardise the very resources they rely on, creating a vicious cycle of rising costs, price shocks from supply chain disruptions and growing risk exposure.
In response, a wave of new frameworks has emerged to help companies understand and act on their relationship with nature:
- 2023: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) published its final recommendations, and the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) released the first science-based targets for nature.
- 2024: The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) released its Biodiversity Standard.
- 2026: The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) launched a consultation on nature-related disclosures, building on the TNFD’s recommendations.
Is your company looking to level up on nature? Below, we outline our ten top tips for building a strong nature strategy. Our advice follows Context’s ATLAS (Assess, Target, Legitimise, Act, Share) method, which is aligned with the recommendations of leading frameworks like the SBTN and TNFD and detailed further in our recent publication Roots of resilience: A nature starter pack for companies.
Top Tips
1. Understand Your Context
While there are multiple rules and frameworks shaping how businesses manage nature, not all of them will be relevant for you. Get to know what’s out there, so you understand what you might need to measure, disclose and act on. Reading up on what your peers are doing can help reveal what’s becoming standard in your sector and the competitive pressure you face. It’s also worth keeping an eye on what’s coming next, such as the ISSB’s consultation on nature-related disclosures, so you can future-proof your strategy accordingly.
2. Take Stock of Existing Efforts
It’s useful to assess your existing efforts, as many businesses are already managing nature-related issues (even if they aren’t calling them that). For example, it might come under sustainable sourcing, water or land management. Understanding what you are already doing gives you a baseline to build on, rather than starting from scratch.
3. Target Your Approach
Nature is a deeply complex, wide-ranging topic. It is also location specific. Taking water from a water-stressed region has a larger negative impact than drawing the same amount from a place where water is plentiful. The most effective strategies focus on key locations, commodities and value chains, rather than trying to tackle everything all at once.
Mapping out your dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities (DIROs) helps show where the business is most exposed and where it can make the biggest difference. The TNFD’s assessment guidance offers a useful starting point. The LEAP approach (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) can help you pinpoint where your operations and supply chains interact with sensitive ecosystems, and which geographies to prioritise.
4. Align With Existing Company Goals
The best nature strategies are built into the business, not treated as a standalone project. By aligning with existing company priorities, you can show how action on nature supports goals the business already cares about, such as supply chain resilience, cost control, product quality or brand reputation. Framing nature in these terms also makes it easier to win support across the organisation.
5. Merge With Your Climate Strategy
Nature and climate are deeply connected, so integrating nature-related considerations into your climate strategy can streamline your approach, reduce repetition and avoid trade-offs (e.g. a carbon removal project that harms local biodiversity). The regulatory landscape is also signalling a move in this direction, with the ISSB developing guidance on connecting nature and climate-related information.
6. Prioritise Your Implementation Approach
The SBTN’s AR3T framework (Avoid, Reduce, Restore and Regenerate, Transform) offers a helpful hierarchy to guide how you implement your strategy. It prioritises avoiding harm in the first place (e.g. by not sourcing from recently deforested land) before reducing remaining impacts. While restoration is important, it shouldn’t be used to offset damage that could have been avoided.
7. Engage Your Suppliers
Most nature-related impacts are located in the supply chain, so working collaboratively with your suppliers is essential to delivering your strategy effectively. The best approaches actively engage suppliers by setting clear sourcing requirements, sharing information as required, and supporting them to adopt better practices.
8. Choose the Metrics that Matter
Unlike carbon, which often focuses on a few common metrics such as CO2e, there is a broad range of nature indicators you can track. This can make data collection feel overwhelming. Don’t try to measure everything. Instead, focus your metrics around the DIROs you identified as most important. Frameworks like the TNFD and GRI suggest a set of indicators you can track, such as water withdrawal and land conversion. Picking the most relevant keeps your tracking manageable and meaningful, and you can always add more metrics to the list as your approach matures.
9. Track Your Progress Consistently and Report Transparently
Tracking and sharing your progress consistently is key. It helps highlight where you’ve made good progress and identify areas for improvement. It also holds your business accountable to its commitments, and builds trust with customers, investors, and other key stakeholders. The way you disclose this information can take many forms, from sharing progress in your sustainability report to publishing a standalone TNFD disclosure or sharing updates on your website. The frameworks and regulations you follow guide your choice, setting out what to disclose and where.
10. Share Learnings
Developing corporate nature strategies is an evolving field, and no business has all the answers. Sharing lessons learned through channels like industry coalitions and sector initiatives accelerates wider progress and can help position your business as a leader in the transition.
Want some extra guidance? Take a look at our recent nature publication. If you’re unsure where to start, short on capacity, or would simply like a second pair of eyes on your strategy and reporting, Context is here to help. For more information or assistance, get in touch with Charlotte at charlotte.smith@contexteurope.com.
