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Erin, welcome.

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Thanks for having me, Manveen.

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Just give us a sense of what
should businesses and

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governments be doing to
incorporate science-based

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targets at the moment?

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Well, first off, the most
important thing is that they're

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taking action now.

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There are no-regrets actions
that companies and cities can be

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taking that are in line with
what climate and nature is

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needed, and in line with what
science says.

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What we do at Science Based
Targets Network is we provide

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companies and cities with the
guidance for them to follow,

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essentially, an instruction
manual for 'how do you

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comprehensively assess your
impacts across the environment',

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and then 'how do you prioritize
and go ahead and move on to

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setting targets'.

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And so just one example of a
target that a company might set

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is reducing the amount of
freshwater quantity in the

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products that they source and in
their direct operations in line

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with what science says is needed
in those places.

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That's great.

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And what was the need for the
handbook effectively that people

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didn't always know how to begin
approaching these targets.

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Yeah.

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Standardize the process.

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It does.

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That's the promise and the
potential here because and I

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used to work with individual
companies and coalitions and I

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found that strategies and
targets were all over the map.

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There were lofty, ambitious
ones, but that weren't rooted in

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practical, 'how much

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by when?'

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There were incremental ones
that, you know, you weren't

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sure.

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Is this enough?

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And so SBTN strives to equip
companies to know that they're

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taking enough of the right
actions, in the right places, at

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the right time, to do their part
to meet the goals of the Global

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Biodiversity Framework on the
side of nature, and on the Paris

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Agreement on the side of
climate.

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Which is how the UN Processes
have organized these topics. And

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tell us about nature-based
solutions and the role they'll

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be playing.

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Well, for those that might have
heard the buzzword nature-based

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solutions, but not really got
their arms around what it

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necessarily means.

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Imagine if instead of focusing
solely on greenhouse gas

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emissions, you're looking
holistically at the other

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aspects of ensuring a healthy
planet for people.

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Fresh water availability,
pollution, land, biodiversity.

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If you look at that
holistically, it presents a

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whole option set that you don't
see if you're just looking at

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climate.

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And so nature-based solutions
are a way for companies to both

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meet their net-zero targets, as
well as to be doing their part

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to stop nature loss.

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And so if you imagine a company
is sourcing in a basin where

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water pollution is a big issue,
they may be tempted to leave and

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move to another location if
they're a sustainability leader.

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But we don't want that because
worse actors may come in. And so

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instead, if they look
holistically, they see oh, if we

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invest in restoration of the
ecosystem, it will clean the

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water and we will have the
benefits of better carbon

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capture, cleaner water, a more
resilient bottom line, all by

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investing in nature-based
solutions.

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That's so interesting.

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So there is sort of a holistic
approach to these targets.

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What do you think businesses and
cities really need to be doing

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most urgently?

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What do you want them to be
adopting right now?

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I think most urgently is making
sure that climate and nature

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don't get lost on the agenda.

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I'm glad to see here at Davos
that the WEF has 'Climate,

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Nature, and Energy' as one of
the four main themes because I

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think with the geopolitical
challenges and so on, there's a

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temptation to move away from
that.

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But the reality is the
fundamental health and

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well-being of people and planet
underpin whether or not the

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political headwinds continue,

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geopolitical issues, you know.
And so don't lose that big

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picture perspective and do what
you know is the action that you

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can take now in order to be
future proofing your business,

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which is hopefully a combination
of true action now, as well as

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laying the groundwork for a
longer-term transformational

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strategy.

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You mentioned political
headwinds there.

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We have seen some governments
reversing slightly on their

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climate promises.

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We've also seen ESG falling out
of fashion with some businesses.

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Are you still optimistic that we
can see the change we need to

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happen in the time frame we
think we've got?

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Yes.

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I'm optimistic because I have to
be.

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I choose to be.

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No.

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In all seriousness, those
headwinds are significant.

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I am grateful for those actors
that are working on trying to

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positively influence them.

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How I can positively influence
them is by focusing on what is

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in my control, which is making
sure that what Science Based

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Targets Network is offering to
the world is part of the

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solution. And so I'm excited to
see that we had 55 companies

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that wanted to be part of our
first pilot. We had to cap it

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because of capacity.

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So we have 17.

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But I expect that when we open
it up later this year, that will

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grow significantly.

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So I focus on them, and the
impact that they can have, and

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how that paves the way longer
term. And those are the things

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that are in our control,
regardless of the way the

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politics go.

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Well, thanks for bringing us a
bit of optimism there.

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That's Erin Billman, who's the
Executive Director of the

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Science Based Targets Network.

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And I'm Manveen Rana.