About the data
The WBA Nature Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to protect the environment and its biodiversity, tracking how companies are reducing their negative impacts on nature and contributing to the protection and restoration of ecosystems, aligned with the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The 2026 edition assessed 750 companies across multiple sectors including agro-food, forestry, building, tourism and the blue economy. The benchmark is developed in close collaboration with an Expert Review Committee and partners including GRI, SBTN, and TNFD, with a methodology designed to incentivise companies to understand where nature-related risks are highest and act to halt damaging trends, while keeping human rights and social impacts at its core.
More information can be found here.
More information can be found here.
Methodology
Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans derive from ecosystems and on which
human life and activities, including corporate activities, rely. Research shows that more than 50% of
global gross domestic product is directly linked to these ecosystem services (WEF and PwC, 2020),
exposing companies to significant nature-related dependencies, risks and opportunities. The 2024
Global Risks Report shows that the top four risks identified over the next ten years are all
environmental: extreme weather events, critical change to Earth systems, biodiversity loss and
ecosystem collapse, and natural resource shortages. Understanding and disclosing these factors is
essential for companies to develop resilient strategies and contribute to a sustainable economyCompanies must:
**Identify the main ways it is dependent on nature **(e.g. **ecosystem services** or **nature’s contributions to people**). This could include both direct dependence for their own operations or indirect dependence via their value chain. The dependence must be made explicit by the company. Vague or general references to a dependence on nature are insufficient to meet this element. Companies can use, for example, the ENCORE tool to identify those for their industry.
**Quantify the extent of dependence** on at least one identified ecosystem service, expressed in relevant units such as volume, area, or monetary value, to highlight the significance of these services to their business operations.
Example metrics that can be used for **quantifying the extent of dependence**:
**Volume or quantity**: For provisioning services, measure the amount of water, raw materials, species, or products sourced from the environment.
**Economic value**: Assess the economic value contributed by each service to the business, which for example could include cost savings from natural water purification versus mechanical methods or revenues generated from ecotourism.
**Area**: For land-based services, calculate the area of ecosystem crucial for maintaining regulatory and supporting services. For example, geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to map and quantify area-based services.
**Ecosystem Services** are the benefits that humans receive from the natural environment which include:
**Provisioning services**: Products obtained from ecosystems, such as organisms, food, water, timber, and fiber.
**Regulation and maintenance services**: Benefits obtained from the regulation and maintenance of ecosystem processes, including pollination, air quality maintenance, climate regulation, water purification, soil quality regulation, and flood and disease control.
**Cultural services**: Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems such as recreation, education, spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, and aesthetic experiences.
**[Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP)](https://www.ipbes.net/glossary-tag/natures-contributions-people)** is the concept favoured by [IPBES](https://www.ipbes.net/). They include the contributions, both positive and negative, of nature to the quality of life of people. NCP can be categorized into three partially overlapping categories:
**Material contributions**: substances, objects or other material elements from nature that directly sustain people’s physical existence and material assets, including food, energy and materials.
**Non-material contributions:** nature’s effects on subjective or psychological aspects underpinning people’s quality of life. This includes things like learning and inspiration, experiences and recreation, and supporting identities.
**Regulating contributions**: functional and structural aspects of organisms and ecosystems that modify environmental conditions experienced by people, or those that regulate the generation of material and non-material contributions. These include things like pollination, regulation of air and water quality, and regulation of climate and hazards.
human life and activities, including corporate activities, rely. Research shows that more than 50% of
global gross domestic product is directly linked to these ecosystem services (WEF and PwC, 2020),
exposing companies to significant nature-related dependencies, risks and opportunities. The 2024
Global Risks Report shows that the top four risks identified over the next ten years are all
environmental: extreme weather events, critical change to Earth systems, biodiversity loss and
ecosystem collapse, and natural resource shortages. Understanding and disclosing these factors is
essential for companies to develop resilient strategies and contribute to a sustainable economyCompanies must:
**Identify the main ways it is dependent on nature **(e.g. **ecosystem services** or **nature’s contributions to people**). This could include both direct dependence for their own operations or indirect dependence via their value chain. The dependence must be made explicit by the company. Vague or general references to a dependence on nature are insufficient to meet this element. Companies can use, for example, the ENCORE tool to identify those for their industry.
**Quantify the extent of dependence** on at least one identified ecosystem service, expressed in relevant units such as volume, area, or monetary value, to highlight the significance of these services to their business operations.
Example metrics that can be used for **quantifying the extent of dependence**:
**Volume or quantity**: For provisioning services, measure the amount of water, raw materials, species, or products sourced from the environment.
**Economic value**: Assess the economic value contributed by each service to the business, which for example could include cost savings from natural water purification versus mechanical methods or revenues generated from ecotourism.
**Area**: For land-based services, calculate the area of ecosystem crucial for maintaining regulatory and supporting services. For example, geographic information systems (GIS) can be used to map and quantify area-based services.
**Ecosystem Services** are the benefits that humans receive from the natural environment which include:
**Provisioning services**: Products obtained from ecosystems, such as organisms, food, water, timber, and fiber.
**Regulation and maintenance services**: Benefits obtained from the regulation and maintenance of ecosystem processes, including pollination, air quality maintenance, climate regulation, water purification, soil quality regulation, and flood and disease control.
**Cultural services**: Non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems such as recreation, education, spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, and aesthetic experiences.
**[Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP)](https://www.ipbes.net/glossary-tag/natures-contributions-people)** is the concept favoured by [IPBES](https://www.ipbes.net/). They include the contributions, both positive and negative, of nature to the quality of life of people. NCP can be categorized into three partially overlapping categories:
**Material contributions**: substances, objects or other material elements from nature that directly sustain people’s physical existence and material assets, including food, energy and materials.
**Non-material contributions:** nature’s effects on subjective or psychological aspects underpinning people’s quality of life. This includes things like learning and inspiration, experiences and recreation, and supporting identities.
**Regulating contributions**: functional and structural aspects of organisms and ecosystems that modify environmental conditions experienced by people, or those that regulate the generation of material and non-material contributions. These include things like pollination, regulation of air and water quality, and regulation of climate and hazards.
License
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Framework Mappings
Value Type
Category
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Assessment
Steward Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report