Biodiversity data
Carrying out a biodiversity assessment for a company is similar to assessing the carbon footprint of a company. While the carbon footprint reports on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a company is responsible for, the biodiversity footprint reports the company's impacts on biodiversity, as explained in the section on biodiversity footprinting.
The main difference is that a biodiversity footprint has a wider scope wherein along with climate change, impacts on land use, acidification, eutrophication, etc. that lead to biodiversity loss, are reported.
As a more accurate carbon footprint is reported with primary (company-specific) data, availability of primary data provides a more accurate biodiversity footprint. This primary data could be:
The main difference is that a biodiversity footprint has a wider scope wherein along with climate change, impacts on land use, acidification, eutrophication, etc. that lead to biodiversity loss, are reported.
As a more accurate carbon footprint is reported with primary (company-specific) data, availability of primary data provides a more accurate biodiversity footprint. This primary data could be:
- Physical data on the company's resource use, energy and emissions. The data requirements are thus similar as for the carbon footprint.
- Monetary data of a company's economic activities for the sectors and geographies in which a company is active can also be used. Considering the availability of data, monetary data is more widely available (through annual reports and published financial statements).
Physical data in biodiversity footprints
Using the physical data of a company's resource and energy use is similar to conducting an LCA, with the main difference being that the results are reported for endpoint damage categories.
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Monetary data in biodiversity footprints |
For the calculation of biodiversity footprint using monetary data, the economic activity data that is used can be published by following the SIC (Standard Industry Classification), or NACE (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community), or through the Worldscope database.
As the format in which economic activity data is reported differs per company, this data is mapped to input-output databases, such as EXIOBASE, that can translate the impact on ecosystems, ultimately affecting biodiversity/species richness.
EXIOBASE is a multi-regional environmentally extended input output data - which estimates emissions and resource extractions by industry. This can be used for the analysis of environmental impacts associated with the final consumption of product groups. EXIOBASE is available without purchasing a license.
Another input-output database is EORA - a global supply chain database, which is similar to EXIOBASE in that it is also a multi-region input-output table.
As the format in which economic activity data is reported differs per company, this data is mapped to input-output databases, such as EXIOBASE, that can translate the impact on ecosystems, ultimately affecting biodiversity/species richness.
EXIOBASE is a multi-regional environmentally extended input output data - which estimates emissions and resource extractions by industry. This can be used for the analysis of environmental impacts associated with the final consumption of product groups. EXIOBASE is available without purchasing a license.
Another input-output database is EORA - a global supply chain database, which is similar to EXIOBASE in that it is also a multi-region input-output table.
What is input-output data?
By definition, input-output tables (IOTs) can be product-by-product or industry-by-industry matrices combining supply and use tables into a single matrix.
Supply tables - In simple terms, a supply table provides data on the supply of different kinds of products for a country or a region
Use tables - These tables provide data on the use of different kinds of products, with a distinction made between intermediate consumption and final expenditure (broadly, by households and government) for a country or a region
Supply tables - In simple terms, a supply table provides data on the supply of different kinds of products for a country or a region
Use tables - These tables provide data on the use of different kinds of products, with a distinction made between intermediate consumption and final expenditure (broadly, by households and government) for a country or a region
Biodiversity database
In the BFFI method, following the mapping of the economic activity to EXIOBASE, the impact is assessed using ReCiPe 2016 (Hierarchist), which translates the pressures to endpoint impact indicators for the categories - Damage to freshwater species, Damage to terrestrial species, and Damage to marine species, to provide the overall biodiversity impact, upstream or downstream. The damage is measured in PDF.m2.yr (link to explaining the metric). The biodiversity impact and the drivers of several companies are maintained in a biodiversity database.
Enhancing biodiversity assessments
Biodiversity assessments can be made more specific for the species by taking into account their spatial locations and habitat features with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In simple terms, GIS is a technique that uses satellite imagery to draw information on spatial data through, for example, analysis, editing and visualising of the data. The value of using GIS in biodiversity assessments is that site specific insights can be drawn, to formulate measures that are specific and relevant to the biodiversity in that region.