Enhancing Barclays' Sustainable and Transition Finance Framework for nature
Barclays is a leading global financial institution headquartered in London, providing retail, corporate and investment banking services to clients worldwide. With operations in over 40 countries, the bank plays a key role in supporting economic activity and helping clients navigate the transition to a more sustainable economy.
As part of this ambition, Barclays has committed to mobilising $1 trillion in sustainable and transition finance. The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC) was engaged to support Barclays by evaluating how its finance activities contribute to nature positive outcomes in line with the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) as per recent framework updates and enhancements, being the first major commercial bank to explicitly do so.
Our approach
TBC drew on its experience supporting development banks and financial institutions on nature finance methodologies to identify and map positive impact pathways for biodiversity across Barclays’ Finance Framework (SFF) and Transition Finance Framework (TFF).
The work involved reviewing all existing activities across previous versions of both frameworks and aligning with other established sustainable finance frameworks to identify eligible activities not already included.
To assess eligibility for contribution to nature — specifically, the potential to contribute to the goals of the GBF — TBC defined three categories of impact pathways:
- Enabling – such as technologies and systems that improve monitoring and transparency (e.g. deforestation tracking tools)
- Reduction – such as practices that reduce pressures on ecosystems (e.g. regenerative agriculture to reduce runoff)
- Restoration – such as activities that actively restore ecosystems and biodiversity
This gives Barclays a clear, practical, auditable and repeatable framework for assessing the eligibility of financing activities against nature objectives.
Outcome
Barclays gained a stronger foundation to understand and track how its financing activities contribute to biodiversity objectives. The work supports the growing integration of nature alongside climate within client transition plans and helps position Barclays at the forefront of the emerging nature finance agenda, maintaining momentum following the recent publication of Barclays’ nature risk assessment approach.
It also enables clearer identification of financing opportunities at the climate–nature nexus, supporting more informed decision‑making and strengthening Barclays’ ability to align capital with positive environmental outcomes.
