How Companies Can Evaluate and Engage in Landscape Initiatives

Companies know landscapes matter…but often don’t know where to start

As sustainability challenges grow more complex, companies are increasingly turning to landscape approaches to build resilient supply chains while empowering the communities that depend on these places to design lasting solutions. Landscape approaches are focused on multi-stakeholder collaboration to advance shared sustainability goals and build resilience at scale.[1] Through decades of on-the-ground experience supporting landscape initiatives globally, TNC has learned that effective place-based collaborations are rooted in a holistic understanding of interconnected social and ecological systems. As companies move from recognizing the value of landscape approaches to taking action, many face a familiar challenge: considering how climate and nature factors connect to business priorities when deciding where to invest.

There is growing corporate interest as well as evidence that landscapes offer a credible path toward addressing the climate and biodiversity crises—both of which already create risks for businesses’ long-term operational capacity. Organizations like ISEAL have set the standard for best practices to guide the industry on the necessary steps. Landscape initiatives continue to offer promising opportunities for companies to advance their climate and nature commitments by aligning efforts and scaling action across multiple outcomes, from achieving Deforestation- and Conversion-Free (DCF) supply chains to reducing Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Measuring and addressing GHG emissions can serve as a practical entry point for companies seeking to invest in landscape-scale initiatives.

To spur companies from interest to action, TNC, with support from Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA), developed landscape criteria designed to make investment decisions clearer and more actionable. These criteria help companies prioritize landscape initiatives that can deliver measurable progress across climate, nature and supply chain goals.

TNC’s history of landscape-level work and recent contributions to corporate efforts

TNC works closely with companies to help translate science into credible, landscape-level action that strengthens corporate supply chain resilience and delivers outcomes for climate and nature (see our Principles of Corporate Engagement). Drawing on decades of experience implementing landscape initiatives, TNC brings both ground-level insight and strategic advisory capacity to support corporate decision-making on where and how to invest for impact. This combination uniquely positions TNC to help companies understand their dependencies and impacts on nature and identify opportunities for action at scale.

Through our work with companies, TNC has supported the development of key frameworks designed to guide corporate action on landscapes, including contributions to the ISEAL Core Criteria and the Science Based Targets for Nature. Our collaboration with ADUSA to strengthen supply chain resilience and address GHG emissions is one example. Leveraging support from ADUSA, TNC shared insights to help inform the company’s evaluation of landscape initiatives, identify potential investment opportunities and determine where action may have the greatest impact. This engagement also contributed to the development of criteria to support Ahold Delhaize USA’s decision-making, with the ambition of convening and mobilizing value chain partners in future opportunities.

[1] https://isealalliance.org/get-involved/resources/core-criteria-mature-landscape-initiatives-english

Enabling prioritization of investment through landscape criteria

While entry points into landscape engagement may differ based on a company’s commitments, its connection to local economies and its role in the value chain, the underlying challenge remains the same. Companies must make deliberate choices about where to allocate limited resources in a way that addresses both nature-related impacts and material business risk. TNC developed the landscape criteria to help businesses navigate these decisions by directing attention and investment toward areas of high conservation value that also pose the greatest risks to supply chains and long-term resilience.

The information needed to begin investing in landscape initiatives is often less complex than companies expect. General sourcing information and a basic understanding of nature-related risks and dependencies can often provide a useful starting point to apply the criteria, and the absence of full farm‑ or site-level traceability should not be seen as a barrier to landscape-level action. Understanding at a high level where priority commodities are produced and how those regions intersect with key environmental pressures can significantly increase the utility of the criteria and support more informed investment decisions in landscapes.

For example, when detailed sourcing data are unavailable, companies can pair priority commodities with known or likely production regions and combine this information with existing spatial data on factors such as water stress, land conversion and ecosystem integrity. Overlaying these data sets highlights places where risks and impacts are concentrated and where landscape-level engagement could deliver meaningful outcomes. The criteria then provide a structured way to assess whether existing initiatives operating in those areas are aligned with both corporate priorities and established best practices for landscape initiatives.

The criteria can be assessed through a series of guiding questions that feed into a scorecard, helping translate complex information into clear signals about investment readiness. This approach enables companies to compare initiatives consistently, identify gaps or areas for improvement and determine whether to invest, engage conditionally or defer participation. The criteria are designed to be used by a wide range of stakeholders. Company leadership can use them to set strategic direction and support investment decisions. Project teams can apply them to evaluate opportunities and guide engagement with suppliers and partners. Landscape practitioners and peer organizations can also use the criteria as a shared reference point to strengthen coordination and alignment across actors working within the same place.

Criteria Overview

TNC developed a set of seven landscape criteria designed to help companies evaluate their potential involvement in existing initiatives. The criteria are intentionally structured to help companies understand both the substance of a landscape initiative and how well it aligns with their own sourcing footprint, nature-related dependencies and sustainability priorities.

This approach reflects a recognition that many credible landscape initiatives are already operating and that companies need practical ways to assess whether those initiatives are fit for purpose, aligned with best practices and relevant to their business.

The seven criteria focus on key elements that determine the effectiveness and relevance of landscape initiatives:

• Geography and materiality, to assess whether the initiative operates in places that overlap with or are relevant to a company’s sourcing, operations or areas of highest nature-related risk.
• Commodity relevance, to ensure the initiative addresses commodities that are material to the company from an impact, dependency or risk perspective.
• Scale, to confirm the initiative operates at an ecologically and socially meaningful scale that can influence system-level outcomes.
• Stakeholder engagement, to evaluate whether the initiative meaningfully includes the people and groups who live and work in the landscape and are affected by its outcomes.
• Governance, to understand whether the initiative has credible, transparent and inclusive decision-making structures in place.
• Monitoring, reporting and claims, to assess whether outcomes can be tracked credibly and whether participation can support appropriate and credible company claims.
• Finance, to assess whether the initiative has a clear and appropriate funding approach, how different forms of capital are aligned and coordinated and whether they enable sustainable, long-term financial support.

By applying the criteria consistently, companies can compare initiatives, identify gaps and prioritize investment and engagement that support both landscape outcomes and business resilience in a way that balances rigor with practicality. Importantly, the criteria acknowledge that companies often face imperfect data and traceability, offering structured ways to navigate those limitations to arrive at defensible decisions. In doing so, the criteria aim to enable more credible, aligned and effective corporate participation in landscape initiatives.

A call to continued commitment and action

The growing interest in landscape approaches signals an important shift in the way companies approach sourcing, resilience and investments in their supply chains. More companies in the land sector recognize that addressing climate and nature risks requires action beyond individual supply chains and farm-level interventions. Yet moving from recognition to meaningful impact will require sustained commitment, shared responsibility and clearer pathways for action.

For companies in the land sector, this means continuing to engage deeply in landscapes where sourcing, risk and impact intersect. Investing in landscape initiatives is not a one-time decision but an ongoing process that requires prioritization, learning and collaboration. Clear criteria can help guide these choices, but sustained investment and engagement are essential to ensure landscape initiatives deliver durable outcomes for both nature and business resilience.