Nature and Finance: Metrics and Tools for a Common Language

Developing robust nature-related reporting is now a key challenge for both companies and financial institutions. The Institut de la Finance Durable is publishing its new report on metrics and tools for establishing a common language on nature.

Beyond regulatory requirements and transparency obligations, nature-related reporting represents an opportunity to build a common language that enables a better understanding of nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities.

While voluntary and regulatory frameworks are becoming more established, nature-related reporting remains an immature practice.

Less than 1% of listed companies worldwide have reported on their impacts on biodiversity in their reports (IPBES, 2026). At the European level, 39% of companies subject to the CSRD identified biodiversity-related issues as material in 2024 (compared with 98% for ESRS E1 on climate change). Among French companies subject to the CSRD, 53% of non-financial companies assessed the issue as material, compared with 31% of financial companies (EFRAG, 2025).

The relevance of the indicators included in existing frameworks varies depending on the type of stakeholder: some metrics may be particularly useful for companies while proving difficult for financial institutions to use directly.

While certain indicators are useful for non-financial companies to identify and manage their nature-related issues at the site level (e.g. water consumption, pollutant levels, spatial footprint, etc.), they may, on the other hand, be less directly useful for managing the activities of financial institutions. Nature-related information needs to be contextualized by financial stakeholders to make it more directly actionable. For example, data can be cross-referenced with the location of activities (areas at risk of water stress, etc.), pollutant emission thresholds (regulatory or otherwise), and comparisons can be made within the same sector.

There is no single metric for nature, but it is possible to focus on a core set of relevant indicators for which information sources are beginning to take shape. The Institut de la Finance Durable proposes a framework for navigating these indicators and data.

By bringing the needs of financial stakeholders closer to the information produced by companies, nature-related reporting can become a lever for more effective dialogue, engagement and capital allocation. The challenge is therefore no longer simply to produce more data, but to make it clear and actionable for financial decision-making.

It is with this perspective in mind that the Institut de la Finance Durable proposes a reading framework to transform available data into indicators that are useful for portfolio management. The matrix developed in this context with stakeholders from the Paris financial centre is intended neither to create new indicators nor to replace existing frameworks. Its ambition is to bridge the gap between the data produced by companies and the needs of financial institutions, facilitating their operational use and strengthening dialogue between financiers and companies.