Accountability Accelerator ramps up preparations to validate science-based targets for nature, as momentum amongst companies builds

30/10/2024

• The Accountability Accelerator, host of the validation function of the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), will launch its validation service in late 2024 with a group of eligible companies;
• Professionals from EBP Schweiz AG and Deloitte & Touche LLP to support Accountability Accelerator’s team;
• SBTN announces the first companies to set science-based targets for freshwater and land, following a year-long pilot.

The Accountability Accelerator, host of the independent target validation function of the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), is ramping up preparations to start validating corporate science-based targets for nature, as it announces its collaboration with EBP Schweiz AG and Deloitte & Touche LLP*.

The Accountability Accelerator’s new target validation service opens in late 2024.The team will evaluate each company submitting science-based nature targets through an independent expert review process. The validation process will check companies’ compliance against requirements to ensure their targets are robust and scientifically aligned, thereby substantiating the public claims companies can make once their targets are validated.

The first companies to begin using the service will be those selected through SBTN’s call for Expressions of Interest, which took place earlier this year, and that met SBTN’s eligibility criteria for science-based targets for nature. A broader roll-out of the validation service will happen in Q1 of 2025, when more information on the eligibility criteria for new companies will be made available.

Companies will be able to set science-based targets for freshwater and land, with methods for ocean targets currently under development.

Natasha Matic, Executive Director, Accountability Accelerator, said: “We are delighted to welcome professionals from EBP Schweiz AG and Deloitte & Touche LLP to our team. Using third party knowledge, in addition to our internal expertise, will ensure that we provide a robust and transparent service. As the Accountability Accelerator begins the important task of providing independent, rigorous assessment of company targets and a clear and user-focused validation service, we look forward to tapping into our collaborators’ wealth of experience and working together on our service.”

Andreas Zysset, Partner and Managing Director, EBP Schweiz AG, said: “COP16 has highlighted the central role of companies in delivering a nature-positive world by 2030, and there is an urgent need for robust, science-based frameworks to guide the way. Science-based targets for nature give companies the necessary guardrails to know they are taking enough of the right actions, in the right places, at the right time, and we are very happy to be part of the team evaluating company targets against these requirements.”

Steven Ward, Managing Director at Deloitte & Touche LLP, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with SBTN and the Accountability Accelerator’s corporate science-based targets for nature program. The launch of the Accelerator’s service marks a pivotal milestone in private sector efforts to safeguard nature. We look forward to contributing our knowledge and experience to support SBTN’s service for companies.”

The updates come as SBTN announces the first companies to publicly adopt their validated targets, at an event held today at COP16. The companies took part in a year-long pilot program which concluded mid this year, to trial target-setting methods and the validation process.
Learnings from the pilot have been used to strengthen SBTN’s framework and methods.

Further preparations to launch the Accountability Accelerator’s validation service include:

• Publication of a Conflict of Interest policy and Claims Guidance.
• Development of a new state-of-the-art validation platform – designed to digitize and secure the process of data submission, validation, assessment and feedback.
• Recruitment of an independent, expert Integrity Council responsible for ensuring the integrity, accuracy and scientific robustness of the target validation process. This includes overseeing matters around conflict of interest, compliance with data protection, and complaints and appeals. Integrity Council members will be announced in early 2025 following final selection by a committee comprising Christiana Figueres, Marco Lambertini and Paul Polman.

SBTN provides a five-step corporate target-setting process for science-based targets for nature, and in July 2024, published updated methods for the first three steps. These first steps now form the core of the target validation process, ensuring companies set credible science-based targets for nature.

• Step 1: Assess. Companies complete an integrated assessment of their portfolio of economic activities to identify key issues and locations to focus on for target setting.
• Step 2: Interpret and Prioritize. Companies identify the locations where action is needed most urgently for nature and people, and then prioritize those locations based on other factors (e.g. financial; strategic importance).
• Step 3: Measure, Set, Disclose. Companies start their target-setting journey, developing baselines and setting their target(s) ambition.

Steps 4 and 5, currently in development, include:

• Step 4: Act. Guidance on the actions companies can take to meet their targets.
• Step 5: Track. Guidance on how to measure progress towards targets, report targets and progress, and verify the accuracy of targets over time.

ABOUT THE ACCOUNTABILITY ACCELERATOR

The Global Commons Alliance’s Accountability Accelerator is a global collaborative of philanthropists and practitioners focused on creating an impactful accountability ecosystem for nature that scales and accelerates corporate action.
Our mission is to drive corporate and financial institution action to reverse nature loss through an impactful accountability ecosystem. We accomplish this by supporting a tight web of stakeholders working globally and locally to enable, incentivize, and pressure corporations and financial institutions to actively contribute to a nature-positive and equitable world by 2030. https://accountabilityaccelerator.org/

*Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of their legal structure.