As countries, financial institutions and businesses move from biodiversity commitments to implementation, the ability to understand, measure, and respond to nature-related risks and dependencies is becoming increasingly important. Yet translating the rapidly growing availability of biodiversity and ecosystem data into credible, comparable, and decision-useful information remains a significant challenge. Different datasets, metrics, and methodologies can provide valuable insights, but fragmentation and methodological differences make it difficult to compare results, assess materiality, and translate evidence into investment and policy decisions.

This side event brought together leading institutions from science, finance, policy, and insurance to explore how emerging tools, datasets, metrics, and methodologies could help bridge the gap between nature data and decision-making. The discussion considered how approaches to measuring nature-related risks, dependencies, impacts, and resilience could support financial institutions, policymakers, and businesses in identifying material risks, prioritizing interventions, and directing finance toward investments that strengthen ecosystems and economic resilience.

Drawing on practical experience and emerging approaches from the Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Environment Agency (EEA), NatureMetrics, European Central Bank (ECB), and the insurance sector, the session explored where methodologies were converging, where important differences remained, and how greater alignment and interoperability could improve their usefulness for decision-makers. Rather than seeking a single universal metric, the discussion examined how different tools and methodologies could work together to provide a more coherent evidence base across sectors, geographies, and decision contexts. A particular focus was placed on moving from measurement to action: how nature-related information could be embedded in risk assessment, investment appraisal, financial decision-making, and policy frameworks, and how improved measurement could help demonstrate the contribution of investments to ecosystem resilience and broader economic resilience.

The session also explored the role of common definitions, taxonomies, metrics, and results frameworks in improving comparability and transparency, supporting the tracking of nature finance, and strengthening the impact narrative around nature-positive investments.

Ultimately, the discussion examined how the emerging ecosystem of nature-related tools and methodologies could be made practical, scalable, and fit for purpose, helping financial institutions and governments move beyond identifying risks toward managing them and financing solutions. By building greater coherence between science, policy, and finance, the session identified practical opportunities to strengthen the evidence base for investment and accelerate implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.