World Biodiversity Day: EcoAct joins initiatives to improve the biodiversity impact of clients

Like climate change, biodiversity decline will have devastating effects for people and for businesses globally, with scientists and governments agreeing on the need to reverse the curve and avoid the worst consequences of biodiversity collapse. As the awareness of this topic has increased, so has the emergence of new regulations and reporting frameworks. Companies’ ESG strategies are now expanding to integrate not only climate issues but nature ones too.

Since the signing of the global framework for biodiversity concluded at COP 15 in 2022, EcoAct has been at the forefront of companies prioritising biodiversity. EcoAct has joined several global and European initiatives that focus on protecting nature and its ecosystems. Our expertise in biodiversity allows us to support our clients find the best solutions to their sustainability and nature challenges and to put biodiversity at the heart of their transformation strategies.

The Organization for Biodiversity Certificates

The Organization for Biodiversity Certificates (OBC) brings together several private and public organisations such as Kering, Pernod Ricard and Gold Standard. Its goal is to define methodologies for the development of “biodiversity certificates” to support standards around nature. Its approach is based on a scientific and field approach that would allow the emergence of carbon-biodiversity projects.

The OBC is, for the moment, made up of several exploratory working groups focused on:

• Forests: Best practices to protect forest ecosystems and adapt them to climate change
• Agriculture: The connections between agricultural practices and biodiversity and how can we support practices that are more virtuous for the environment
• Market (of which EcoAct is a member): How to build a voluntary market around biodiversity

EcoAct has over 15 years of experience developing climate-beneficial methodologies and projects, and a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the nature-based solutions market. We are pleased to join the OBC as a member of the board to participate in the development of a solid framework and support the global effort for the preservation and restoration of biodiversity.

Biodiversity certificates could be a real accelerator in the protection and restoration of ecosystems and the methodologies developed by the OBC would allow our nature-based solutions experts to use them in our own projects and those proposed to our clients. A biodiversity crediting system would highlight the numerous co-benefits of carbon projects on biodiversity. While awaiting the conclusions of these working groups and their potential integration into standards, our team are already integrating biodiversity into corporate strategies and into our carbon offset projects.

AFNOR biodiversity commission to promote a new ISO standard

The AFNOR is responsible for developing standards in France. This year, EcoAct joined a working group on biodiversity approaches made up of various market players. In 2021, this working group supported the publication of the voluntary standard NF X32-001, which provides organisations with a method to help them structure their approach to biodiversity protection. EcoAct is also able to guide companies so that they align with the guidelines required by this standard.

The AFNOR biodiversity working group is now taking this standard to the international level via ISO. A new ISO standard is expected to be published within the next few months.

European CircHive project

In 2023, EcoAct joined the European CircHive project that aims to standardise biodiversity footprint and natural capital accounting methods within organisations, based on concrete case studies within companies and territories. The objective of the project is to propose and assess an improved and standardised methodology applicable to different sectors across Europe.

The CircHive project has just reached an important milestone with the completion of a first phase of in-depth work on different Work Packages (WP) by the partners. The publication of a first version of the work carried out is expected soon. After an exhaustive literature review covering databases, methods, tools, and regulatory frameworks relating to biodiversity, the next step will consist of analysing these results.

A consortium meeting is planned for the end of May 2024, where progress will be discussed and future steps planned. This meeting will also include the “Helsinki Biodiversity Day”, a public event where the audience can hear from experts on the integration of biodiversity in businesses and cities. Feel free to register and participate!

Conclusion

Like the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis needs to be urgently addressed. As it stands, biodiversity loss is increasing and the consequences of biodiversity collapse are significant. So far, not enough has been done to address global biodiversity loss and transformative changes are needed.

EcoAct’s team of biodiversity experts are here to support your organisation measure its impact on biodiversity, as well as understanding its dependencies on ecosystem services. If you want to learn more about EcoAct’s four-step approach to biodiversity footprinting and accounting, download our biodiversity factsheet or get in contact with our experts.