Getting started with nature: A practical guide for the construction Sector

Although nature is vital to our environment and economy, construction companies often fail to fully consider the impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities associated with it—or how to manage them effectively. This blog therefore sets out how companies in the construction sector can move from nature awareness to action by using three complementary frameworks (TNFD, SBTN and Nature Transition Plans) that provide strong and practical starting points for integrating nature into your organisation. These frameworks are internationally recognised, grounded in robust scientific evidence, and developed through extensive stakeholder engagement across business, finance, policy and civil society. Together, they offer credible, decision-useful approaches that are increasingly being adopted by organisations globally, reflecting their growing relevance, influence and momentum in shaping how businesses respond to nature-related risks, impacts and opportunities.

Why nature matters

The construction sector shapes how we live and move, but it also depends heavily on nature. With responsibility for nearly 30% of global biodiversity loss, 50% of raw material extraction, and 40% of waste streams, construction has a critical role in enabling a nature-positive future.

Putting nature at the centre of operations is increasingly a business imperative. Poor biodiversity management can lead to delays, legal challenges, and permit risks, especially as regulations tighten worldwide, including in the EU. Investors are also paying closer attention, using frameworks such as the TNFD to assess biodiversity risks.

Beyond risk, nature protection supports long-term resource security. Construction relies on materials like timber, minerals, and water, all of which become scarcer as ecosystems degrade. At the same time, demand is growing for nature-inclusive design, green infrastructure, and circular materials, creating new opportunities for innovation and revenue.

In short, caring for nature is no longer optional, it reduces risk, secures resources, attracts investment, drives innovation, and strengthens the sector’s long-term resilience.

Below we explain how companies in the construction sector can use three complementary building blocks to move from nature awareness to action:

• TNFD: An international risk and disclosure framework to integrate nature into governance, strategy, risk, and metrics & targets.
• SBTN: Science-based, location-specific targets for land, freshwater and beyond.
• Nature Transition Plan: A forward-looking, management-owned plan that ties actions, targets and accountability to the Global Biodiversity Framework. 

1.   TNFD  

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) provides a common language for boards, risk managers, investors and sustainability leaders to understand and manage nature-related risks and opportunities. It consists of 14 recommended disclosures, organized across four pillars, governance, strategy, risk management and metrics & targets. 

At its heart is the LEAP process: Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare. You start by mapping where your operations and value chain intersect with nature and related ecosystems, then identify how those connections translate into dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities (DIROs). Finally, you develop response actions and report on the 14 recommended disclosures. For developing a strategy and action plan on nature, a transition plan can be a useful guide (see 3. Nature transition plan). 

The TNFD disclosure requirements are flexible, it can slot into existing environmental due diligence processes and aligns smoothly with standards like GRI and ESRS.

Nature DIROs in construction

For construction, nature isn’t background, it’s the ground you build on. The sector faces direct pressures from:

• Land-use change and habitat fragmentation from site works
• Sourcing of aggregates and timber
• Water use
• Impact on air, water and soil pollution
• Climate change

With tighter permit regulations under the Dutch Omgevingswet and EU’s nature restoration targets, early environmental due diligence now directly influences project approval, cost, and delivery.

How to apply TNFD’s LEAP

Locate: Map your sites and material sources against ecosystem types, protected areas, and sensitive basins to find hotspots.

Evaluate: Identify dependencies (flood protection, water supply, soil stability) and impacts (run-off, noise, land use) using existing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) data and tools like IBAT or ENCORE.

Assess: Translate findings of dependencies and impacts into risks (delays, legal challenges) and opportunities (nature-inclusive design, resilience).

Prepare: Build mitigation into design (set-backs, corridors, green roofs), shift to certified materials (e.g. FSC), and develop a TNFD-aligned report.

By adopting the TNFD, construction firms can go beyond compliance. Building not just structures, but resilience for business, people, and nature.

2.   SBTN

The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) aims to lead companies to take location-specific action to mitigate their negative environmental impacts and create positive benefits for nature and people. SBTN guides organizations through three practical steps:

1.     Assess: Understand your environmental footprint across operations and supply chains.

2.     Prioritize: Identify which pressures on nature are most material, for example, land conversion, water use, or pollution.

3.     Set Targets: Commit to specific, time-bound goals that reflect local ecosystem conditions.

Unlike broad sustainability pledges, SBTN targets are science-based and location-aware, ensuring actions are meaningful where they matter most.

Tip: When performing a LEAP assessment you cover step 1 and 2 of SBTN, meaning you can go straight to target setting. 

What this means for Construction

For construction companies, setting SBTN targets translates directly into site-level action:

• For land: Commit to no conversion of natural ecosystems for new sites and pursue land footprint reduction per unit of output.
• For feshwater: Define basin-level targets for water withdrawal and effluent quality across project clusters, aligned with local catchment thresholds.

These targets not only reduce environmental impact but also help you to mitigate operational risks, strengthen compliance, and improve access to green finance.

3.   Nature Transition Plan

A Nature Transition Plan is your roadmap for halting and reversing biodiversity loss. It sets out your ambition, actions, and accountability. Translating high-level sustainability goals into a clear, operational strategy. Your nature transition plan should describe how your company contributes to the Global Biodiversity Framework’s target to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, and put ecosystems on a path to recovery by 2050.

The TNFD has recently published its guidance on developing nature transition plans. This guidance aligns with the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) framework, allowing climate and nature plans to be integrated. While climate goals are global, nature impacts are place-specific. 

How to build your plan

Start with your LEAP assessment insights to identify key dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. The next step is to set (science-based) targets, such as SBTN targets. Following this, set out short, mid and long term actions you want to implement. Make sure you have targets and metrics in place that can measure the progress you are making on your actions. Actions could include:

• Design: Apply nature-inclusive design standards, integrate biodiversity corridors, green roofs, and natural drainage into projects.
• Supply chain: Strengthen supplier criteria using certifications such as FSC for timber and recycled aggregates for materials.

An important part of developing a transition plan is stakeholder engagement, especially with local communities and indigenous people. This to make sure your actions and plan aligns with their expectations and prevents for doing any harm. 

The last step is to create a governance structure for your plan, who is accountable within your organisation and for what part of the plan.

It is recommended by the TNFD to expand your coverage of the nature transition plan over time, embedding nature into the heart of business planning and project delivery one step at the time.

Conclusion

By integrating TNFD, SBTN, and a Nature Transition Plan, construction companies can move from compliance to leadership, helping to build infrastructure that supports both people and the planet.

Curious about how we can support you through each step of your nature transition? Discover our full range of services here.