COP17 reflections: from nature reporting to action
1. From nature reporting to nature action
Disclosure frameworks such as the TNFD have brought nature onto the corporate agenda. As Nature Strategist Isadora Ferreira explored in her recent post, Disclosure is not a decision, the next step is turning nature reporting into real change.
In practice, that means connecting business and finance with the NGOs and government bodies delivering national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs). The Wildlife Trusts are a good example: they’re restoring habitats that could link directly to companies’ nature-positive initiatives or to Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units.
But none of this works without trust, and trust depends on biodiversity measurement. Businesses and financial institutions need state-of-nature data, covering both the condition of ecosystems and the pressures on them, that is robust enough for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). Leaders in forestry and property are already taking a natural capital approach, and some financial institutions are getting stuck in.
This is central to the NatureMetrics mission: knowing what can be derived from data, and having the ecological and business insight to turn it into decisions. That is what nature intelligence means to us.
"There is still a narrative that the data exists to make these decisions. But those truly in the delivery know you need specific data for specific applications and decisions." - Pippa Howard, Chief Nature Strategist, NatureMetrics
2. Ecosystem condition takes centre stage
State-of-nature metrics generated genuine excitement. Ecosystem condition is increasingly seen as key to operational resilience, and as a meaningful biodiversity indicator for financial institutions, development finance institutions (DFIs) and corporates alike.
The next step is feeding these metrics into dynamic modelling of physical climate and nature-related risk. Companies that build ecosystem condition and intactness into their risk calibration will gain much finer-tuned nature intelligence at site and portfolio level, and across their supply chains. At NatureMetrics, these are core components to both our freshwater and soil ECIs. Find out more about our Ecosystem Condition Index (ECI) suite.
3. Invasive species monitoring with eDNA
Invasive alien species are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity, and the focus of GBF Target 6. An initiative bringing together IUCN, F&F and corporate partners is building real momentum.
The priorities are clear: pragmatic guidance, location-specific collaboration, early warning and detection systems, and monitoring the outcomes of management action. Invasive plants make up a significant share of the problem, but it spans all taxa, worldwide.
For us, the most exciting moment was hearing key partners, including major energy and mining companies, affirm that environmental DNA (eDNA) is a solution they want to deploy at scale. Read more on how eDNA reduces invasive species risk.
4. Making nature investable: nature finance and nature markets
More money needs to flow into nature, and at a far greater scale. Funds linked to digital sequence information (DSI) and other environmental funds will play a part. So will a better understanding of what nature finance needs: patient capital, and an appreciation of both ecological complexity and the many stakeholders involved in delivery.
Promisingly, some organisations are already embracing that complexity. They are building “solution ecosystems” that bring the whole value chain together – from landowners and project deliverers to investors, insurers, underwriters, lenders and offtakers.
Laura’s conversations pointed to several ways forward:
- Local nature markets connect investment to local resilience needs, and avoid the need for one measurement framework that works in every region.
- Clear roles for voluntary markets. They work best as contribution-based, rather than also asking standard setters to enforce the mitigation hierarchy.
- Rigour through external nature credits, which can drive better outcomes than insetting.
- Collaboration at catchment level. Restoration costs come upfront while benefits build over time and are shared by everyone, so public finance can help bring actors together.
- Blended finance, because institutional investors need low risk and large ticket sizes. The challenge is to take the small and unique nature that protects a community and make it big and boring enough for investors to buy.
5. Natural capital on the balance sheet
Accountants might be saving the world (again!). IPSAS 51, published in January 2026 and coming into effect in 2028, allows governments to account for protected areas as natural capital assets on national balance sheets. Guidance on how to calculate their value is due in January 2027.
Crucially, an asset doesn’t need to generate revenue to be recognised. Laura sees potential for the same thinking to apply elsewhere: rather than mining gold only to store it in a vault underground, why not trade the rights and leave it in situ?
Incentives matter too. Reframing subsidy reform as “greening incentives” makes it more politically palatable. A Conservation International report shows governments are paying twice – once for the subsidy, then again to repair the damage it causes.
"Ultimately, incentives influence whether the most resilient choice is the most competitive one for a business." - Laura Plant, Partnerships Consultant, NatureMetrics
6. Nature as infrastructure – for health and climate resilience
Nature is a critical health infrastructure, as well as a physical infrastructure. Parks are estimated to save $6 trillion in healthcare costs globally, and nature prescribing is taking off.
Infrastructure builders are natural champions here. Unlike house builders, who have short-term obligations, they operate assets for 30 years or more and want long-term benefits. If they can underpin the resilience case, smaller players looking for faster returns can be crowded in.
Business is increasingly seeing nature investment as resilience. The easiest way into the conversation is to lead with climate and water, which already make sense to most businesses. The bar is high: a dollar invested in nature needs to show up as more than a dollar on the balance sheet within the year.
7. Rights, responsibilities and the voices that matter
Our economy has been built on rights rather than responsibilities. First Nations and Indigenous cultures offer a different model, grounded in reciprocity with nature.
Rights of Nature is now the fastest-growing legal movement, and it is already making a difference. In Ecuador, Los Cedros was protected from mining development because of the constitutional rights of nature.
Pippa was struck by the importance of Indigenous and First Nations Peoples’ voices, and by the voice of youth. A moving speech from a young Nordic man reflected on the responsibility his generation and those to come now carry – a powerful reminder of why equity and human rights must sit at the heart of efforts to protect biodiversity.
As conversations turned to security, sovereignty and resource security, one thing was clear. As Pippa puts it: “It doesn’t take a genius to know nature underpins all this, does it?”
Where we go from here
COP17 showed a community ready to move from talking about nature to acting for it. The building blocks are falling into place: better biodiversity metrics, new natural capital accounting standards, maturing nature markets and growing appetite for tools like eDNA.
What ties them together is nature data that’s fit for the decision at hand. This is where NatureMetrics sits in the nature reporting landscape – providing concrete metrics that turn biodiversity data into the nature intelligence that business and finance need to act with confidence.
If any of these themes resonate, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to continue the conversation, or explore more insights in our Knowledge Hub.
