How the Accountability Framework can help companies with their biodiversity commitments

This year’s International Day of Biodiversity marks 33 years since the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992. The theme for 2025 is ‘Harmony with nature and sustainable development,’ which highlights the important role companies can play in safeguarding the planet’s biodiversity.

Biodiversity and sustainable development are interlinked

This year’s biodiversity day focuses on the links between the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework sets out an ambitious blueprint for the transformation of society’s relationship with nature, in line with the SDGs. The implementation of the SDGs catalyses society- and economy-wide transformations, including in agrifood systems, infrastructure, industry, energy systems consumption and production patterns, water and ecosystem management, urban planning, education, and gender equality. These transformations are essential to the achievement of the framework and the fulfilment of its vision: ‘life in harmony with nature.’ 

Biodiversity is the foundation of all life on Earth, and is fundamental to human well-being, a healthy planet, and economic prosperity for all people. Forests are types of biodiverse ecosystems that are home to an estimated 80% of the world’s land-based animal and plant species, and they cover about one-third of global land area. Non-forest natural ecosystems, like grasslands, savannahs, and wetlands are also highly important for biodiversity, yet they are often poorly understood.

The role of companies in safeguarding biodiversity

Biodiversity and nature goals can be complex, and companies are often unsure about the best way to protect vulnerable plant and animal species. For companies whose supply chains interface with forests or other natural ecosystems, and that want to have impactful biodiversity-related goals and targets, conservation and protection is a must.

Companies in certain sectors, such as food, agriculture, and land use, have an outsized impact on biodiversity. Because of this, companies that produce or source agricultural or forestry commodities are seeing ever-clearer expectations to eliminate deforestation, ecosystem conversion, and associated human rights abuses from their supply chains—and to be transparent about their progress.

How the Accountability Framework can help

Companies can take the first step towards meeting their biodiversity goals, as well as expectations on deforestation and conversion from stakeholders, by setting robust deforestation- and conversion-free (DCF) targets aligned with the recommendations of the Accountability Framework, and disclosing on DCF progress annually. The AFi Core Principles provide guidance on how to set goals that protect forests and other natural ecosystems, and how to specify commitments. The Framework also offers more detailed guidance on how companies can become deforestation- and conversion-free in time to meet global climate and nature ambitions. The AFi’s most recent statement on supply chain targets dates related to deforestation and conversion can be found here.

Companies can also set SBTi Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector, including eliminating emissions from deforestation and conversion in a company’s operations and supply chains in line with the Paris Agreement climate goals to limit warming to 1.5°C. By working to prevent the loss of forests and to protect natural ecosystems, companies are well placed to conserve the at-risk biodiversity that is dependent upon these vital habitats. In short, companies that meet their DCF commitments can more easily address their nature risks, impacts, and dependencies too.

Guidance for engaging in sourcing landscapes

Not only can the Accountability Framework help companies set ambitious DCF targets to stop habitat loss within their own operations, but it also provides guidance on how to have at-scale impact in the areas where companies source commodities. Importantly, most biodiversity is found not on farms or ranches, but in the surrounding landscapes. While it is vital that companies work to conserve existing ecosystems and biodiversity, it is also important to commit to restore damaged and lost ecosystems as well.

Having robust traceability and control mechanisms allows companies to understand from which landscapes they are sourcing their products, and helps them to know more about the specific biodiversity that is at risk there. Many diverse actors rely on these landscapes, so collaboration is crucial to have impacts on the ground. To support companies, the Framework offers detailed guidance on achieving commitments through collaboration, as well as on environmental compensation and restoration to help companies target high-risk landscapes for investment and collaborate within them.

Addressing human rights risks

Lastly, many local communities and Indigenous Peoples rely on forests for their livelihoods. By including land tenure considerations; free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC); workers' welfare, and other human rights protections in commitments, as laid out in the Accountability Framework (Core Principle 2), companies can further help to reduce their impacts on the forests and natural ecosystems people rely upon. In many ways, we cannot achieve ‘harmony with nature and sustainable development’ without the inclusion of the people who depend on forests, nature, and biodiversity for their very livelihoods.

There are many ways that taking action to protect forests, natural ecosystems, and human rights can have rapid and positive impacts in some of the most at-risk and biodiverse areas on the planet. To learn more about how the Framework can help companies achieve this, visit the AFi’s e-learning platform or get started with the Framework.