Act4nature international genesis and purpose

Act4nature international is the continuation of act4nature 2018 for French businesses with international activities. It is led by EpE under a multi-stakeholder steering committee. Though aimed at global actors, is a French collective initiative run by French partners.

Act4nature international is a pragmatic alliance initiated to accelerate concrete business action in favour of nature and born by businesses and stakeholders, including NGOs, academic bodies and public institutions. Committed businesses have signed at CEO-level 10 common commitments and SMART individual commitments (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound). A steering group composed of the partner stakeholders and businesses confirms that these individual commitments are SMART before publication on www.act4nature.com.

Act4nature is recognised by Business for nature, the global business coalition dedicated to biodiversity, as the only cross-sector platform for business commitments at international scale. Several initiatives have adopted the same criteria, in particular “Entreprises engagées pour la nature act4nature-France” managed by the French administration for French-scale businesses and act4nature Portugal; initiatives in Brasil and Switzerland, while different, are built on similar principles.

Since 2018, this coalition made possible close to 150 SMART biodiversity business commitments signed by CEOs; initial feedback from operations indicate concrete action has indeed accelerated. In 2021, 30 new commitments have been recognised as SMART.

A report on implementation of the commitments signed in 2018 has been published in September 2021 (in French).

Governance

The act4nature international steering committee brings together EpE member businesses, the thirteen partner organisations of act4nature international (business networks, environmental NGOs and scientific bodies) as well as committed members of the funding networks. The steering committee ensures the proper functioning, promotion and credibility of the act4nature international alliance.

Each commitment sent by a company is cross-checked by :

• a network of businesses (Afep, EpE or MEDEF),
• an environmental NGO (French Committee of IUCN or Noé),
• and a scientific body (FRB, IDDRI or MNHN),

in order to assess its SMART nature.

On the basis of these reviews, the steering committee validates the SMART nature of the commitments before their publication on the act4nature international website.

Each company is solely responsible for formulating and implementing its individual commitments.

Every two years, a review of the commitments implementation will be carried out on the basis of information provided by the businesses.

The preparation of the steering committee’s work and the organisation of reviews and exchanges with the businesses are coordinated by an act4nature international manager, who reports on his action to the financial networks committee.

Contact: mthune@act4nature.com