Executive Summary

The era of nature pledges is giving way to the age of performance. Following COP30's landmark outcomes in Belém, organizations across sectors face a defining moment: translating ambitious commitments into measurable, nature-positive results. With the Tropical Forest Forever Facility securing $5.5 billion, over 620 organizations committing to TNFD reporting, and regenerative agriculture needing to scale from 15% to 40% of global cropland by 2030, the path to nature-positive transformation requires sophisticated strategy, cross-sector collaboration, and innovative finance mechanisms.

This guide examines how corporations, NGOs, foundations, and maritime organizations can move from intention to implementation—delivering outcomes that restore ecosystems while building business resilience and supporting the communities closest to the land and sea.

The Post-COP30 Landscape: What Changed

COP30 in Belém marked a fundamental shift in how the world approaches nature and climate action. As the "nature COP" held in the heart of the Amazon, it delivered unprecedented momentum for implementation-focused strategies.

Landmark Financial Commitments

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) launched with $5.5 billion in confirmed investments, with Norway committing up to $3 billion over 10 years and Brazil and Indonesia each pledging $1 billion. This blended-finance mechanism represents a new model for forest conservation, with at least 20% targeted for direct access by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The renewed $1.8 billion Forest and Land Tenure Pledge expanded commitments to secure Indigenous and community forest tenure rights, while the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment established national targets to legally recognize 160 million hectares of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community lands.

The Implementation Imperative

Brazil positioned COP30 as the "COP of implementation," emphasizing delivery over new promises. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that current NDCs project only 10% emissions reduction when 60% is needed to stay within 1.5°C, making immediate action essential.

Council Fire recognizes that this implementation imperative requires organizations to move beyond compliance-driven approaches to strategic integration of nature across operations, supply chains, and investment decisions. The window for action is narrowing, and the organizations that act decisively now will build competitive advantage while contributing to planetary recovery.

From TNFD Reporting to SBTN Action: The Implementation Gap

The TNFD Momentum

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has seen remarkable adoption, with over 620 organizations representing $20 trillion in assets under management committing to nature-related reporting by 2025. The framework has attracted 502 companies across 54 jurisdictions, including 25% of globally systemically important banks.

Asia Pacific leads adoption with 86% of surveyed organizations using or planning to use the TNFD framework, followed by Europe at 69% and Latin America at 68%. Significantly, 63% of companies view nature-related risks as equal to or more critical than climate risks for their long-term prospects, and 78% have integrated climate and nature reporting.

The SBTN Challenge: Moving to Science-Based Targets

While TNFD provides the disclosure framework, the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) offers the implementation roadmap. SBTN's five-step approach—Assess, Prioritize, Set targets, Act, and Track—guides organizations through nature-related risk and opportunity assessments using the LEAP methodology (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare).

Validation services launched in February 2025 for land and freshwater targets, with ocean target validation following a pilot process that kicked off in Fall 2025. The framework currently covers freshwater and land, with expanded guidance for oceans expected in 2025, along with enhanced biodiversity integration, implementation guidance, and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) expectations.

Bridging the Gap: From Disclosure to Delivery

The challenge lies in translating TNFD disclosures into SBTN-validated targets and then into concrete action. Among companies engaged through Sustainalytics' Biodiversity and Natural Capital Stewardship Program, approximately one-fifth intend to report in line with TNFD by FY2025, yet the pathway to SBTN implementation remains less clear for many organizations.

Council Fire specializes in this critical transition phase—helping organizations assess their nature-related dependencies and impacts through TNFD, then translating those insights into SBTN-aligned targets and actionable strategies. This requires place-based assessment, stakeholder engagement, and integration across functions from operations to finance to procurement.

Regenerative Agriculture at Scale: The Food Sector's Transformation

The Scaling Imperative

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, regenerative agriculture must scale from covering just 15% of global cropland today to at least 40% by 2030. This represents not just an environmental imperative but a business resilience strategy, as the global agriculture sector contributes approximately 70% of freshwater withdrawals and roughly one-quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. regenerative agriculture market alone is projected to reach $6.32 billion by 2030, expanding at a 16% CAGR from 2025-2030. Major corporations are committing significant resources: ADM is targeting 5 million acres in 2025, while HEINEKEN aims to reach 500 pilots in different regions by 2025.

The Metrics Convergence

Over 38 leading agri-food companies have converged on 11 shared regenerative agriculture outcomes and 10 core metrics through the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) initiative at WBCSD. This alignment addresses one of the sector's most persistent challenges: the proliferation of competing definitions and measurement approaches that hindered investment and scalability.

The converged outcomes include:

• Soil health improvement and carbon sequestration

• Biodiversity enhancement and habitat connectivity

• Water quality and quantity management

• Farmer livelihood improvement and community resilience

• Climate resilience and adaptation capacity

The Implementation Challenge

Scaling regenerative agriculture requires overcoming significant barriers. Only 14% of businesses surveyed by CBI said their businesses had no role in supporting nature beyond legal requirements, yet only 15% of business leaders said plans were already being implemented, compared to 23% implementing net-zero carbon plans.

Critical success factors include:

• Farmer-centric design: Programs must work economically for farmers first, with technology and metrics supporting rather than driving decision-making

• Long-term time horizons: Meaningful changes in soil health take 2-4 years to materialize, requiring patient capital and multi-year commitments

• Place-based approaches: Effective strategies must be hyperlocal, adapted to specific soil types, climate patterns, and farming systems

• Collaborative models: Companies like General Mills work with on-farm research groups, conservation organizations, and universities to determine locally applicable methods

Innovative Financing Models

Zero Foodprint's "collective regeneration" model demonstrates how innovative financing can scale impact. By collecting 1% of consumer purchases from restaurants, grocers, and food companies, the organization directly funds farm conversions. In 2025, it recruited Bob's Red Mill, Vital Farms, Tillamook County Creamery, and Stumptown Coffee as new backers and proposed legislation in Washington State to earmark 1% of restaurant bills and $1 from trash bills statewide for regenerative agriculture projects.

Project Hummingbird, led by Bayer and PlanetaryX, tests bundling multiple environmental benefits—carbon storage, biodiversity, soil health, and water quality—into Ecosystem Resilience Assets, with at least 75% of funding flowing directly to land stewards.

Council Fire helps food and agriculture companies navigate this complex transition by developing tailored regenerative agriculture strategies that balance farmer economics, ecosystem outcomes, and corporate sustainability goals. Our approach integrates technical agronomic expertise with stakeholder engagement and innovative finance mechanisms to create scalable, place-based solutions.

The Blue Economy Transformation: Ocean Health as Business Imperative

The Ocean Opportunity

The sustainable blue economy is expected to grow to over $3.2 trillion by 2030, yet between 2012 and 2022, just $13 billion was invested in ocean sustainability, mostly from official development assistance and philanthropic sources. This massive financing gap represents both a challenge and an opportunity for organizations willing to lead.

The 2025 UN Ocean Conference saw record business participation alongside 65 heads of state and 10,000 participants, signaling a fundamental shift: the ocean is moving from the margins to the center of the climate and nature agenda.

From Sustainable to Regenerative

The blue economy narrative is evolving from "sustainable" to "regenerative." As measures of ocean health continue to decline, sustainability—maintaining a degraded status quo—is insufficient. A regenerative blue economy focuses on restoring marine and coastal ecosystems while supporting equitable prosperity within planetary limits.

Key regenerative initiatives include:

• Chile's Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs): Community-led approaches rebuilding ecosystems while sustaining local economies

• North Sea offshore wind integration: Co-designing wind areas with aquaculture and reef restoration, blending renewable energy with ecological restoration

• Zanzibar women-led seaweed cooperatives: Restoring lagoon health while creating income and diversifying household economies

• Ghana's Inshore Exclusive Zone expansion: Protecting small-scale fishers while enabling marine biodiversity regeneration

Maritime Decarbonization

Shipping, which carries more than 80% of global trade by volume and emits about 2% of global greenhouse gases, is re-evaluating its trajectory under the International Maritime Organization's net-zero-by-2050 strategy. Global installed offshore wind capacity reached 83 gigawatts in 2024—more than triple the capacity of a decade ago—and is projected to reach 2000 gigawatts by 2050.

The World Economic Forum's Nature and People Positive Ports initiative focuses on securing nature-positive commitments from major global ports. Examples include the Port of Singapore's investments in zero-emission fuel bunkering and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges' ecological infrastructure development.

Blue Finance Innovation

Private sector momentum is building, with over $3.91 billion invested in Nature-based Solutions in Brazil since 2022—nearly half in 2025 alone. Investors plan to channel $10.4 billion to NbS by 2027 and $18.8 billion through 2030, according to Deloitte Brazil and Capital for Climate.

Google revealed its largest-ever purchase of nature-based carbon removals: a 200,000-megatonne deal with Mombak, a Brazilian startup restoring degraded Amazon pastureland into healthy, biodiverse forest.

Council Fire supports maritime and coastal organizations in developing regenerative blue economy strategies that address decarbonization, ecosystem restoration, and community benefit-sharing. Our expertise spans port sustainability assessments, sustainable fisheries management, coastal resilience planning, and innovative blue finance mechanisms.

Nature Finance Innovations: Unlocking Capital at Scale

The Biodiversity Credit Market Emergence

Biodiversity credits are emerging as a critical financing mechanism, with first transactions reaching up to $1.87 million. While modest compared to the $700 billion annual financing gap, the trend is positive for both biodiversity and Indigenous peoples and local communities involved in ground-level projects.

The European Commission's July 2025 Roadmap Towards Nature Credits sets the blueprint for biodiversity certification in the EU, backed by a €7 billion commitment to attract private investment and bridge the €65 billion annual nature finance gap.

Ensuring Integrity and Equity

The World Economic Forum, Biodiversity Credit Alliance, and International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits published 21 high-level principles designed to guide standard setters, project developers, and buyers. These principles ensure:

• Verified positive outcomes for nature: Measurable biodiversity gains with robust monitoring

• Equity and fairness for people: Direct benefits to Indigenous peoples and local communities

• Good governance for high-integrity markets: Transparent, accountable certification systems

The EU framework emphasizes "additionality"—ensuring positive biodiversity outcomes are directly attributable to project interventions and would not have occurred otherwise. Credits must demonstrate activities going beyond statutory requirements, financial viability dependent on certification incentives, and quantified biodiversity net gains reaching minimum thresholds (e.g., 10% biodiversity net gain).

Blended Finance Models

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility exemplifies blended finance at scale, combining public, private, and philanthropic capital to create long-term funding mechanisms for intact forest ecosystems. It integrates biodiversity credits and forest conservation bonds with direct partnerships with local and Indigenous communities.

Private finance for nature surged to $102 billion in circulation by 2024—up elevenfold from $9.4 billion in 2020. The green bond market continues expanding its nature-linked projects, with biodiversity featuring in 16% of instruments issued in 2023, up from just 5% in 2020.

De-Risking Nature Investments

De-risking is emerging as a cornerstone strategy to attract mainstream finance, particularly in emerging markets. Mechanisms include:

• First-loss guarantees: Multilateral development banks absorbing initial investment risk

• Concessional financing: Below-market rate capital enabling project viability

• Insurance products: Protecting against natural disaster and project implementation risks

• Technical assistance: Building local capacity to develop and manage nature projects

Standard Chartered committed to the World Economic Forum's #BackBlue initiative, joining Deutsche Bank, AXA XL, WTW, and Palladium in ensuring a regenerating and sustainable ocean has a seat at the table in finance and insurance decisions.

Council Fire helps organizations navigate the emerging nature finance landscape by designing blended finance structures, developing biodiversity credit projects with integrity, and facilitating partnerships between public, private, and philanthropic investors. Our approach ensures that financing mechanisms deliver measurable nature outcomes while supporting equitable benefit-sharing with local communities.

Indigenous Partnerships: Rights-Based Conservation at Scale

The Land Tenure Revolution

COP30 delivered unprecedented commitments to Indigenous land rights. The Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment established national targets to legally recognize 160 million hectares of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community lands in tropical forest countries.

The Land and Forest Tenure Pledge 2.0 renewed and expanded the $1.8 billion commitment made at COP26, supporting Indigenous and community forest tenure rights to halt deforestation by 2030. Critically, at least 20% of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility's resources are targeted for direct access by Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

Why Indigenous Leadership Matters

United Nations data suggests that lands stewarded by Indigenous Peoples comprise around 20% of Earth's territory and contain as much as 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity. Research confirms the connection between strong Indigenous land rights and positive conservation outcomes, with Indigenous-managed lands often achieving greater conservation results than government protected areas.

Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledge, rooted in millennia of land stewardship, provides invaluable insights for climate adaptation and ecosystem restoration. When Indigenous Peoples can maintain, revive, strengthen, use, and transfer their knowledge, they center natural resource management decisions on principles of reciprocity and ensure future generations benefit from traditional ways of knowing.

The Project Finance for Permanence Model

Canada's Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) model demonstrates how to structure long-term conservation finance with Indigenous leadership. The model:

• Brings together government and private funding

• Supports large-scale, long-term, community-led conservation and economic development

• Grounds implementation in place with Indigenous rights

• Tests new, community-led, sustainable enterprise opportunities like carbon and nature markets

Canada committed $800 million over seven years to support up to four Indigenous-led conservation initiatives through PFP, which could protect up to one million square kilometers once completed.

Ensuring Equitable Benefit-Sharing

Key features of successful financing solutions include:

• Direct access to finance: Simplified processes reducing barriers to funding

• Flexible funding: Responding to community-identified priorities rather than donor-driven agendas

• Indigenous ownership and leadership: Communities controlling design and implementation

• Technical capacity through trusted partners: Supporting rather than supplanting local expertise

• Clarity of tenure and rights: Legal recognition enabling long-term planning

The Savimbo biodiversity credit project in Colombia's Putumayo region illustrates Indigenous leadership in emerging nature finance mechanisms, with community members directly stewarding forests while generating verifiable biodiversity credits.

Council Fire approaches Indigenous partnerships through a rights-based framework that centers self-determination, equitable benefit-sharing, and traditional knowledge integration. We facilitate partnerships between Indigenous communities, governments, and private sector actors, ensuring that conservation initiatives deliver on commitments to both nature and people.

Measuring Nature-Positive: Moving Beyond Neutral

The State of Nature Metrics

Over 134 organizations from different industry sectors completed consultation on the Nature Positive Initiative's State of Nature Metrics, with over 700 stakeholders engaging during workshops. The draft metrics, set for piloting in 2025, focus on terrestrial ecosystems with three core indicators:

Universal Indicators (measured by all users):

1. Ecosystem Extent: Tracks changes in habitat areas, including loss, gain, and net impact

2. Ecosystem Condition: Evaluates site conditions, landscape integrity, and ecosystem connectivity

3. Species Population and Extinction Risk: Monitors trends in species abundance and extinction risk levels using the IUCN Red List

Case-Specific Indicators triggered in sensitive ecological or social conditions, such as when a species population was healthy but is declining rapidly.

The Piloting Program

Over 30 businesses and financial institutions across 32 countries and six sectors committed to test the metrics through the May-November 2025 piloting program. Each pilot company partners with one of the 27 Nature Positive Initiative organizations—including TNFD, GRI, and SBTN—to test metrics within specific frameworks or projects.

The final set of state of nature metrics is expected to be ready for widespread adoption in 2026, following piloting completion. Parallel efforts are developing consensus on marine state of nature metrics in partnership with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance and the World Economic Forum.

Harmonizing Corporate Metrics

WBCSD is driving a large-scale initiative to harmonize nature-related metrics used by corporations, working with 90 corporate members across four systems (forest products, agri-food, energy, built environment) supported by technical partners. The Nature Action Portal, set to launch at COP30 in November 2025, will provide practitioners with prioritized metrics to measure progress, set targets, and disclose in alignment with major voluntary and regulatory frameworks.

Peter Bakker, WBCSD's President & CEO, emphasized that "one of the biggest barriers to corporate sustainability progress is the lack of consistent, comparable data. This data is essential for companies to provide financial markets and stakeholders with evidence on the risks they face and justify the investments needed to address them."

Why Nature-Positive, Not Nature-Neutral

Nature-positive goes beyond offsetting negative impacts to achieving net-positive outcomes for biodiversity. This requires:

• Restoration over compensation: Actively regenerating degraded ecosystems rather than simply maintaining current states

• Additionality: Demonstrating outcomes beyond business-as-usual scenarios

• Place-based action: Focusing interventions where nature needs it most, not where it's easiest

• Time-bound commitments: Achieving measurable gains by 2030 with full recovery by 2050

• Stakeholder inclusion: Ensuring that nature gains support rather than harm local communities

Council Fire helps organizations develop robust measurement frameworks that demonstrate genuine nature-positive contributions. Our approach integrates the State of Nature Metrics, TNFD disclosure requirements, SBTN target-setting, and sector-specific indicators into coherent measurement systems that drive strategic decision-making.

Cross-Sector Implementation: Strategies by Organization Type

For Corporations

Strategic Integration Pathway:

1. Assess dependencies and impacts using TNFD's LEAP approach

2. Set science-based targets through SBTN validation

3. Implement regenerative practices across supply chains

4. Develop biodiversity credit strategies to finance positive outcomes

5. Measure and disclose progress using harmonized metrics

Priority Actions:

• Conduct nature-related risk assessments for operations and supply chains

• Engage suppliers in regenerative agriculture or sustainable sourcing programs

• Establish cross-functional nature governance structures

• Invest in innovation partnerships for nature-positive products and services

• Participate in industry coalitions to scale sectoral transformation

For NGOs

Enabler and Implementer Role:

1. Facilitate stakeholder engagement connecting communities, corporations, and funders

2. Provide technical assistance in restoration, monitoring, and verification

3. Advocate for policy enabling conditions that accelerate nature-positive action

4. Develop and test innovative approaches in pilot geographies

5. Build local capacity for long-term conservation and sustainable livelihoods

Priority Actions:

• Strengthen community-based conservation models with clear benefit-sharing mechanisms

• Develop impact measurement frameworks demonstrating outcomes to funders

• Create partnerships bridging conservation science and business implementation

• Support Indigenous-led conservation through direct finance and technical support

• Advocate for nature-positive policies at national and international levels

For Foundations

Catalytic Capital Strategies:

1. De-risk nature investments through first-loss guarantees and concessional finance

2. Fund systems-level interventions addressing root causes of nature loss

3. Support Indigenous-led initiatives with flexible, multi-year funding

4. Invest in innovation testing new finance mechanisms and business models

5. Facilitate learning and coordination across grantees and investment partners

Priority Actions:

• Structure blended finance vehicles mobilizing private capital at scale

• Fund impact measurement infrastructure enabling transparent reporting

• Support pre-commercial innovation in regenerative technologies and practices

• Convene multi-stakeholder partnerships addressing landscape or seascape-level challenges

• Build grantee capacity in financial sustainability and revenue diversification

For Maritime Organizations

Blue Economy Transformation:

1. Decarbonize operations through alternative fuels and efficiency improvements

2. Restore marine ecosystems in port areas and shipping routes

3. Engage fishing communities in sustainable and regenerative practices

4. Develop blue carbon projects in mangroves, seagrass, and saltmarsh

5. Participate in blue finance initiatives attracting investment to ocean health

Priority Actions:

• Conduct nature risk assessments for maritime infrastructure and operations

• Implement nature-positive port design principles in new developments

• Support community-led fisheries management and aquaculture improvement

• Invest in offshore wind co-located with reef restoration and aquaculture

• Collaborate on regional ocean governance and protection initiatives

Strategic Frameworks: Decision Trees and Implementation Roadmaps

Nature-Positive Assessment Framework

Phase 1: Understanding (Months 1-3)

• Map value chain dependencies on nature across operations and supply chain

• Identify material nature-related risks and opportunities

• Assess current state of ecosystems in areas of influence

• Engage stakeholders including local communities, suppliers, and investors

Phase 2: Strategy Development (Months 4-6)

• Set science-based targets for material impacts (land, freshwater, ocean, biodiversity)

• Develop place-based action plans prioritizing high-impact interventions

• Design financing mechanisms including internal budgets and external partnerships

• Establish governance structures with board-level oversight

Phase 3: Implementation (Months 7-24)

• Deploy interventions through direct operations, supply chain engagement, and restoration projects

• Build monitoring systems tracking ecosystem extent, condition, and species populations

• Engage communities ensuring equitable benefit-sharing and respect for rights

• Iterate based on results, adapting strategies as outcomes emerge

Phase 4: Measurement and Disclosure (Ongoing)

• Report progress through TNFD-aligned disclosures

• Verify outcomes through independent third-party assessment

• Communicate transparently about challenges and learnings

• Scale successful approaches while phasing out ineffective interventions

Decision Tree: Choosing the Right Nature Finance Mechanism

Does your organization have direct land/sea management control?

• Yes: Consider direct implementation with internal budgets supplemented by biodiversity credits for verified outcomes

• No: Proceed to next question

Is your primary goal compliance or beyond-compliance contribution?

• Compliance: Focus on offsetting residual impacts through high-integrity biodiversity credits

• Beyond-compliance: Proceed to next question

Do you have long-term presence in specific geographies?

• Yes: Invest in landscape/seascape-level partnerships using blended finance and Project Finance for Permanence models

• No: Participate in pooled funds or purchase verified nature credits from trusted projects

Are local communities/Indigenous Peoples managing critical ecosystems?

• Yes: Prioritize direct finance mechanisms ensuring equitable benefit-sharing and community leadership

• No: Partner with conservation organizations working with communities in your sphere of influence

Why Council Fire: Strategic Partnership for Nature-Positive Transformation

The journey from pledges to performance requires specialized expertise that bridges technical rigor, strategic communication, and cross-sector collaboration. Council Fire's unique positioning stems from our deep experience in:

Systems-Level Strategy: We don't just assess isolated impacts—we understand how nature, climate, and social systems interconnect across your value chain and within the landscapes where you operate.

Implementation Focus: Our track record spans translating complex frameworks like TNFD and SBTN into actionable strategies that deliver measurable results while building organizational capacity.

Stakeholder-Centered Approach: We facilitate radical partnerships that bring together corporations, governments, NGOs, Indigenous communities, and investors around shared nature-positive goals.

Sector Expertise: From regenerative agriculture to maritime sustainability, from conservation finance to impact measurement, we bring the specific technical knowledge required for nature transformation in your sector.

Finance Innovation: We design and broker the blended finance structures, biodiversity credit projects, and impact investment vehicles that unlock capital for nature at scale.

The organizations leading on nature-positive transformation share common characteristics: they integrate nature across functions rather than siloing it in sustainability departments; they build deep partnerships with communities and conservation organizations; they invest in innovation while learning from failure; and they communicate transparently about both progress and challenges.

Council Fire helps organizations become these leaders—not through theoretical frameworks but through practical strategies tested in real-world conditions and adapted to your specific operating context.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does nature-positive differ from carbon-neutral, and why does it matter for our business?

Nature-positive means achieving net-positive outcomes for biodiversity and ecosystem health—going beyond offsetting impacts to actively restoring and regenerating nature. While carbon-neutral focuses solely on greenhouse gas emissions, nature-positive recognizes that more than half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on natural ecosystems. Organizations pursuing nature-positive strategies build resilience against supply chain disruption from ecosystem degradation, access emerging nature finance opportunities, meet evolving regulatory requirements, and strengthen their social license to operate.

Council Fire helps organizations understand how nature dependencies and impacts create material risks and opportunities across their operations, translating this understanding into strategic priorities that align business value with biodiversity outcomes.

Q: We're already reporting under TCFD for climate. How do TNFD and SBTN fit with our existing sustainability framework?

TNFD deliberately mirrors TCFD's structure—governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics/targets—making adoption smoother for organizations familiar with climate reporting. 78% of companies that have disclosed under TNFD guidance have integrated climate and nature reporting, signaling a shift toward holistic approaches. SBTN complements TNFD by providing the science-based methodology for setting targets, similar to how the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) supports TCFD implementation for climate.

Council Fire designs integrated nature-climate strategies that leverage existing TCFD infrastructure while addressing nature-specific requirements. We help organizations identify synergies (e.g., nature-based climate solutions) and trade-offs (e.g., renewable energy siting impacts on biodiversity) to develop coherent, implementation-ready strategies.

Q: How can we ensure Indigenous partnerships are equitable rather than extractive?

Equitable Indigenous partnerships require free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), direct access to finance, flexible funding aligned with community priorities, transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms, and recognition of traditional knowledge as equal to Western science. At least 20% of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility is targeted for direct Indigenous access, setting a precedent for meaningful inclusion.

Council Fire facilitates Indigenous partnerships through a rights-based framework emphasizing self-determination and reciprocity. We help organizations navigate cultural protocols, structure appropriate benefit-sharing mechanisms, and ensure that partnerships deliver on commitments to both conservation and community well-being. Our team has experience spanning Indigenous-led conservation projects across North America, Latin America, and the Pacific.

Q: What's the timeline for seeing ROI from regenerative agriculture investments?

Meaningful changes in soil health take 2-4 years to materialize, requiring patient capital and multi-year farmer commitments. However, economic benefits can emerge sooner through reduced input costs, improved water efficiency, and access to premium markets. ADM's 2023 regenerative agriculture initiatives reduced Scope 3 GHG footprint equivalent to removing more than 135,000 cars from the road, demonstrating measurable climate benefits supporting corporate net-zero goals.

Council Fire helps food and agriculture companies structure regenerative programs balancing short-term farmer economics with long-term ecosystem outcomes. Our approach includes scenario modeling for ROI across different timeframes, farmer incentive design ensuring participation during transition periods, and impact measurement demonstrating value to investors and customers.

Q: How do biodiversity credits differ from carbon credits, and are they legitimate?

Biodiversity credits represent verified improvements in ecosystem health and species populations, while carbon credits focus solely on emissions reduction or carbon sequestration. The first biodiversity credit transactions reached up to $1.87 million, with markets still nascent but growing. Legitimacy depends on adherence to integrity principles covering verified positive outcomes for nature, equity and fairness for people, and good governance for markets.

Council Fire helps organizations navigate the emerging biodiversity credit landscape, evaluating project quality, ensuring additionality and permanence, and designing credit strategies aligned with science-based targets. We connect buyers with high-integrity projects supporting Indigenous-led conservation and landscape restoration, avoiding the pitfalls that undermined early carbon market credibility.

Q: What's the role of technology in scaling nature-positive transformation?

Technology enables crucial advances in monitoring, verification, and implementation. Remote sensing provides landscape-scale ecosystem extent and condition data; AI analyzes biodiversity from camera traps and acoustic monitoring; blockchain ensures transparent, tamper-proof credit registries; and digital platforms connect farmers with technical assistance and market access. Examples include ADM's partnership with Map of Agriculture for remote data collection giving farmers deeper understanding of their carbon footprint and sustainability performance.

Council Fire helps organizations evaluate and deploy nature-tech solutions appropriate to their specific contexts. We conduct technology assessments, facilitate partnerships with innovators, and ensure that technology augments rather than replaces community knowledge and farmer decision-making. Our approach recognizes that technology is a tool supporting, not driving, nature-positive transformation.

Q: How do we communicate nature-positive progress without greenwashing?

Credible nature communication requires specificity, transparency, and appropriate humility. Share concrete actions with quantified outcomes rather than vague commitments; disclose both successes and challenges; acknowledge trade-offs and areas needing improvement; cite verified data with transparent methodologies; and avoid claiming nature-positive until demonstrating net gains through robust measurement. Claims guidance from SBTN will help companies accurately communicate validated targets.

Council Fire develops nature communication strategies balancing transparency about challenges with compelling storytelling about progress. We help organizations articulate their nature journey in ways that build stakeholder confidence, differentiate from competitors engaging in greenwashing, and inspire peers to accelerate action. Our approach recognizes that authentic communication—including about setbacks—ultimately strengthens rather than undermines credibility.

Conclusion: The Decisive Decade

The window for achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework's 2030 targets is narrowing rapidly. Current assessments place the world on a path to 2.6°C of warming—far short of the 1.5°C goal—and half of nature commitments older than six months have not reported progress this year.

Yet momentum is building. Private finance for nature reached $102 billion in 2024, Indigenous-led conservation is receiving unprecedented recognition and funding, breakthrough regulatory frameworks are creating market pull for nature-positive action, and measurement methodologies are converging to enable transparent accountability.

The organizations that will thrive in the decade ahead are those that recognize nature not as a constraint but as the foundation for resilient operations, innovative products, and enduring stakeholder relationships. They understand that the path from pledges to performance requires sophisticated strategy, patient capital, radical partnership, and a willingness to learn and adapt based on outcomes.

The transformation is underway. The question is whether your organization will lead it.

Ready to move from nature pledges to measurable performance? Council Fire brings the strategic expertise, technical rigor, and cross-sector partnerships that translate nature commitments into on-the-ground results. Our team has guided organizations through regenerative agriculture implementation, Indigenous partnership development, biodiversity credit project design, TNFD disclosure preparation, and SBTN target-setting—always with an implementation focus that delivers outcomes for both nature and business.

Contact us to explore how Council Fire can support your organization's nature-positive transformation.