Biodiversity measurement approaches covered in this report

This report evaluates 29 tools designed for businesses and financial institutions to measure biodiversity impacts, dependencies, and opportunities. These tools address various business applications, such as risk assessment, compliance with biodiversity targets, and valuation of ecosystem services. Key highlights include:

• New tools and updates: The report introduces new tools like ENCORE and IBAT, while enhancing existing ones such as GBS® and BFFI to better align with sectoral needs.
• Sector-Specific tools:
  • Agriculture: ABDI evaluates agrobiodiversity and sustainability in food systems.
  • Mining: BNGC and BISI provide tools for site-level biodiversity assessments.
  • Finance: Tools like GBS®-FI and ENCORE are tailored to financial institutions for biodiversity-positive investment strategies.
• Flexibility and combination: The framework allows for combining tools to address multiple pressures and metrics. For example, ENCORE and GBS® can be paired to assess impacts across supply chains and investment portfolios.
• Focus on new metrics: Tools like STAR and BIM offer advanced metrics for threatened species and biodiversity impact tracking, helping businesses align with emerging biodiversity commitments, such as science-based targets.

The navigation wheel enhances usability by offering clear pathways for businesses to identify, measure, and address biodiversity impacts effectively.

The Biodiversity Measurement Navigation Wheel

The Biodiversity Measurement Navigation Wheel 2.0 is a decision-support framework for selecting biodiversity measurement tools. It evaluates tools across seven criteria to match specific business needs:

• Business context: Tailors tools to applications like risk assessment, performance tracking, and reporting.
• Biodiversity pressures: Tools address pressures like land use, pollution, and climate change.
• Ambitions: Supports companies committed to “no net loss,” “nature-positive,” or science-based targets.
• Scope: Evaluates dimensions such as species, ecosystems, and ecosystem services.
• Metrics: Includes advanced metrics like MSA (Mean Species Abundance) and STAR (Species Threat Abatement and Restoration).
• Efforts: Assesses costs, expertise, and data requirements.
• Sector applicability: Aligns tools with specific industries like agriculture, mining, and finance.

The navigation wheel emphasises combining tools to address multiple pressures and dimensions, ensuring comprehensive biodiversity assessments.

Conformity with Align recommendations

Overview of the Align Framework

The Align framework, developed under the “Aligning Accounting Approaches for Nature” initiative, establishes best practices for biodiversity measurement and valuation. It provides guidelines for collecting biodiversity data, assessing impacts, and integrating biodiversity into decision-making. Key elements include:

• Principles: Focuses on transparency, scientific robustness, and standardisation.
• Technical criteria: Differentiates between good practices (minimum requirements) and best practices (advanced methodologies).
• Applications:
  • Site and project level: Addresses direct biodiversity impacts from operations.
  • Supply chain level: Evaluates upstream impacts in agriculture, forestry, and raw material extraction.

The framework aims to enhance corporate accountability and align biodiversity measurement with global sustainability goals.

Alignment of tools with Align recommendations

The report evaluates how well tools conform to Align’s principles and practices:

• Good Practice
  • Tools like BISI, BNGC, and IBAT comply with standardised protocols and spatial biodiversity overlays.
  • Pressure-response models in tools such as GBS® and ReCiPe provide robust data for corporate assessments.
• Best Practice:
  • Tools like STAR and READS incorporate advanced metrics, including extinction risk and primary field data.
  • In-depth surveys used in tools like BNGC meet high accuracy and spatial precision requirements.

Tools supporting valuation and accounting

Valuation tools like EP&L and READS help quantify ecosystem service dependencies in financial terms. Accounting tools such as CBF and GID aggregate biodiversity data to track progress against targets and meet disclosure requirements.