What is corporate sustainability and why does it matter?

Corporate sustainability is how organisations integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into their strategy and operations. It matters because of increasing regulatory requirements (CSRD, UK SRS), stakeholder expectations, and the business case for resilience. Companies that embed sustainability outperform those that treat it as compliance.

What is CSRD and does it apply to my company?

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is EU legislation requiring detailed sustainability reporting. It applies to large EU companies, EU-listed SMEs, and non-EU companies with significant EU revenue (€150M+). UK companies may be affected through EU subsidiaries or supply chain requirements.

What are SBTi targets and how do companies set them?

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) provides frameworks for companies to set emission reduction targets aligned with climate science. Companies submit targets for validation, typically covering Scope 1, 2, and increasingly Scope 3 emissions. The process involves baseline calculation, target setting, and ongoing reporting.

How do SMEs approach sustainability without enterprise resources?

SMEs can start with materiality assessment to identify what matters most, focus on quick wins (energy efficiency, waste reduction), leverage supply chain requirements as a framework, and use simplified reporting approaches. The key is proportionate action - not everything at once, but consistent progress on what matters.

What is the difference between ESG and sustainability?

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) is a framework for measuring and reporting sustainability performance, primarily used by investors. Sustainability is the broader goal of meeting present needs without compromising future generations. ESG is one way to structure and communicate sustainability efforts.

PANDIONSTUDIO

POLICY & GOVERNANCE / VOLUNTARY FRAMEWORKS

Science Based Targets for Nature

SBTN — Nature target-setting aligned with planetary boundaries

The nature counterpart to SBTi. Where SBTi sets a company's climate decarbonisation targets, SBTN sets its targets for nature recovery across freshwater, land, oceans, and biodiversity. Regulatory incorporation is already underway in CSRD and TNFD, following SBTi's trajectory approximately five years behind.

FreshwaterLandOceanBiodiversityAR3TLandscape EngagementKunming-Montreal

In 30 seconds

Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) provides methodology for companies to set measurable targets for nature recovery across five pillars: freshwater, land, oceans, biodiversity, and climate (the last coordinated with, not duplicating, SBTi). The target-setting process is called AR3T. Over 100 companies are engaging with the methodology; formal target validation launched in 2025.

SBTN is voluntary but rapidly gaining regulatory traction. CSRD ESRS E4 (biodiversity and ecosystems) requires the same kind of nature action plan that SBTN produces. TNFD incorporates SBTN targets directly. Investor pressure through the TNFD Early Adopter programme and Nature Action 100 is accelerating corporate adoption.

For land-owning organisations: SBTN Target 1.3 (landscape engagement) is the most immediately relevant target, and the one that overlaps most directly with SBTi's FLAG landscape engagement requirement. A credible landscape programme can satisfy both frameworks simultaneously.

Five environmental pillars

SBTN covers the full scope of corporate nature impact. Not every pillar will be material for every business. The AR3T process starts with assessing which ones are. For most land-based organisations, land and freshwater are material as a minimum; biodiversity and climate cut across both.

FreshwaterWater use, withdrawal, pollution, and ecosystem flows

Examples: Agricultural irrigation, industrial water use, wastewater discharge, river flow modification

Material for agriculture, food processing, beverages, manufacturing, and any land-intensive sector. Freshwater is the most rapidly declining ecosystem globally.

LandLand-use change, habitat conversion, and ecosystem degradation

Examples: Deforestation for agriculture or development, soil degradation, peatland drainage, grassland conversion

The primary driver of biodiversity loss globally. For farms, estates, forestry companies, and food supply chains, land is where nature targets are most likely to be material.

OceanMarine ecosystem impacts, overfishing, pollution, and coastal habitat loss

Examples: Fishing and aquaculture, coastal development, plastic and nutrient pollution, shipping emissions

Material for fishing, aquaculture, coastal tourism, shipping, and any company with significant marine supply chains.

BiodiversitySpecies loss, habitat destruction, and ecosystem degradation across all biomes

Examples: Conversion of species-rich habitats, fragmentation of wildlife corridors, introduction of invasive species

The overarching pillar that runs across freshwater, land, and ocean. SBTN biodiversity targets align with the 30x30 goal of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Climate (integrated)Land-sector emissions and removals — coordinated with SBTi rather than duplicated

Examples: Methane from livestock, soil N2O from fertilisers, carbon sequestration from forests, deforestation emissions

SBTN does not duplicate SBTi climate targets. For land-sector organisations (FLAG), the two frameworks share a landscape engagement requirement, meaning one well-governed landscape programme can satisfy both simultaneously.

The AR3T framework

SBTN's five-step target-setting process, officially called AR3T. The process is designed to move from broad materiality assessment to specific, location-based, measurable targets, avoiding the vague “nature-positive” commitments that have little scientific grounding.

On the acronym: we know. AR3T embeds a number mid-word, capitalises a letter buried inside “pRioritize,” and uses a single T to cover two separate steps. It is not a good acronym. The five steps underneath it are considerably more logical than the name suggests — treat the label as a reference term rather than a mnemonic.

Timeframe: Working through AR3T typically takes 6 to 18 months for a first-time engagement, or longer if baseline measurement is starting from scratch. Validation submission is optional but adds credibility and reduces greenwashing risk.

AssessIdentify material nature impacts

Use SBTN materiality screening to determine which of the five environmental systems are material to your business, based on your sector, supply chain geography, and direct operations. Most land-intensive businesses will find land and freshwater material as a minimum.

pRioritizeFocus on high-impact locations

Identify the specific geographic locations where your business has its highest nature impacts, typically where you source raw materials or operate directly. Not everywhere at once: SBTN is explicit that geographic prioritisation is essential to credibility.

MeasureEstablish baselines in priority locations

Conduct baseline assessments in your priority locations: biodiversity surveys, land-use mapping, freshwater quality measurement. Tools such as LandScale provide standardised landscape-level baselines. This step is the hardest to shortcut and the most valuable investment.

seT targetsDefine science-based, measurable targets

Develop specific targets aligned with scientific thresholds for your priority impacts and locations. For example: "restore 50 hectares of degraded habitat in [location] by 2030" or "reduce freshwater pollution in [catchment] to agreed quality thresholds by 2030". Targets can be submitted to SBTN for formal validation, which is optional but adds credibility and reduces greenwashing risk.

acTImplement, track, and report progress

Implement actions, monitor progress against the baselines established in step 3, and report annually. CDP Forests, TNFD, and CSRD ESRS E4 are the primary disclosure pathways. Annual reporting means the baseline measurement investment pays for itself across multiple reporting cycles.

Target 1.3 — Landscape Engagement

The most significant SBTN target for land-owning organisations, farms, and forestry businesses. Companies are required to participate in credible, multi-stakeholder landscape initiatives in their material sourcing locations.

What SBTN Target 1.3 requires

Companies must contribute to landscape-level initiatives in material sourcing locations. This is the most immediately actionable SBTN target for land-based organisations. It does not require a company to solve nature loss on its own, but to participate credibly in a place-based, multi-stakeholder effort to do so collectively.

What counts as credible landscape engagement

SBTN is explicit about the governance requirements: multi-stakeholder governance (not just company-led), measurable ecosystem outcomes, community participation in decision-making and benefit-sharing, and independently assessed progress. A company-funded tree-planting programme without external governance does not qualify.

Why this matters for land-owning organisations

An estate, farm, or forestry business with direct land management is both the impact source and the potential solution. The same landscape programme — a Woodland Carbon Code project, a regenerative grazing programme, a river catchment partnership — can simultaneously satisfy SBTN Target 1.3 (nature) and the SBTi FLAG landscape engagement requirement (climate). One credible programme, two framework requirements met.

Finding verified initiatives

SourceUp (sourceup.info) is the primary platform for identifying verified landscape initiatives that qualify for SBTN Target 1.3. ISEAL Alliance credibility standards are the benchmark for governance quality. Any initiative built from scratch needs to meet the same governance and measurement standards as an externally verified one.

How SBTN and SBTi relate

The two frameworks are explicitly designed as a pair: climate and nature together. Understanding the relationship helps you pursue both efficiently rather than treating them as separate programmes with separate budgets.

Paired by design: SBTi (climate) and SBTN (nature) are explicitly designed as complementary frameworks: SBTi for decarbonisation targets, SBTN for nature recovery targets. Both are referenced in CSRD (ESRS E1 and E4 respectively), TNFD, and increasingly in investor ESG screening. They are not competing frameworks.

Shared landscape engagement requirement: Both frameworks require engagement in credible landscape-level initiatives in material sourcing locations. This reflects the scientific consensus that nature loss and climate change share the same root causes and the same solutions. A single landscape programme can satisfy both simultaneously.

Recommended sequencing: For most land-owning organisations, the practical starting point is: Scope 1 measurement first (required for SBTi), then nature baseline (required for SBTN). Once both baselines exist, the frameworks can be pursued in parallel. The data foundation is largely shared, so the duplication lies in pursuing them separately.

Carbon credits and target achievement: A landscape initiative may generate carbon credits as a revenue stream. These credits cannot count toward SBTi targets, which require actual emissions reductions. The correct framing: landscape engagement provides the evidence for SBTi FLAG and SBTN target progress; carbon credits fund the ongoing governance of the initiative.

Disclosure alignment

SBTN targets are not standalone. They feed directly into the frameworks that investors, regulators, and supply chain buyers are beginning to require.

CSRD ESRS E4Substantive

SBTN targets directly satisfy the ESRS E4 (Biodiversity and Ecosystems) requirement for nature impact assessment and action plans. Companies subject to CSRD have a strong structural reason to develop SBTN targets, as they satisfy the mandatory requirement efficiently without a separate programme.

TNFDHigh

SBTN targets inform the Strategy and Metrics and Targets pillars of TNFD disclosure. TNFD LEAP (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) provides the disclosure methodology; SBTN provides the targets that sit within it. Building the TNFD LEAP foundation first makes SBTN target-setting significantly more straightforward.

CDP ForestsHigh

Landscape engagement for SBTN Target 1.3 generates the evidence for CDP Forests disclosure, specifically around supply chain governance, deforestation commitments, and biodiversity action. A strong SBTN programme is the content that makes a CDP Forests A-list score credible.

CDP BiodiversityDirect

CDP's Biodiversity questionnaire (unscored in 2026 but growing in scope) aligns directly with SBTN's methodology. As CDP Biodiversity moves towards scoring, SBTN targets will be the strongest possible questionnaire response.

Kunming-Montreal GBFFoundational

SBTN targets are designed to contribute to the 30x30 goal (protecting 30% of land and ocean by 2030) and to the nature-positive by 2030 target. This is the scientific reference point for all nature-related corporate targets.

The Pandion view on SBTN

SBTN is following SBTi's trajectory, approximately five to seven years behind.

SBTi launched in 2015 and became de facto mandatory for large corporate supply chains within a decade. SBTN launched in 2023 and has 100+ companies engaging with its methodology. The investor adoption pattern is the same; the regulatory incorporation path (CSRD E4, TNFD) is already in place. Organisations that engage now have the first-mover advantage that early SBTi adopters enjoyed.

Baseline first, targets second. Every time.

"Restore biodiversity in our sourcing regions" is not an SBTN target. "Achieve an Improving LandScale rating in [location] by 2030, starting from a 2025 baseline" is. The most common failure mode is setting aspirational targets without the measurement infrastructure to track them. Invest in the baseline before announcing the target.

For land-owning organisations, SBTN and SBTi are not two frameworks. They are one programme.

A farm, estate, or forestry business that builds a credible landscape programme (multi-stakeholder governance, measured baseline, annual progress reporting) satisfies the landscape engagement requirements of both SBTi FLAG and SBTN simultaneously. This is not corner-cutting; it is how the frameworks are designed to work. The duplication lies in pursuing them separately.

Nature targets require a different kind of measurement than climate targets.

A Scope 1 carbon footprint has a single metric (tCO2e). A nature baseline has multiple dimensions: species abundance, habitat quality, freshwater flows, soil health. The measurement is more complex, the proxies matter more, and progress is slower to show. This is not an argument for delay; it is an argument for choosing the right indicators early and establishing them before you commit to public targets.