A Copenhagen-headquartered environmental consultancy has released an open-access metric to measure the biodiversity value of sites in the Americas, seeking to better inform restoration projects as well as supporting corporate disclosures on nature-related impacts and dependencies.
Developed by Ramboll with the support of the US-based scientific non-profit NatureServe, the Americas Biodiversity Metric focuses on habitats in the US northeastern states, such as New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The remaining US and Canadian habitats are expected to be included by the end of the year, with further releases aiming to encompass Mexico and Latin America, according to the company.
“By evaluating biodiversity value, the metric can be used to inform and enhance decision-making processes for land use planning, design, development siting, and land management,” Ramboll said.
“[It] allows developers to assess land use and development plans from the context of biodiversity impacts, evaluate scenarios to minimise biodiversity loss, and if needed, help identify target locations, habitats, and actions to achieve no net loss or net gain in biodiversity.”
As well, the metric could support companies to align with disclosure frameworks such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the Science-based Targets Network (SBTN).
OVER 500 HABITAT TYPES
Ramboll’s tool quantifies biodiversity value using the product of four main variables:
- Habitat size
- Habitat condition, based on a set of criteria largely focused on vegetation and other visual indicators of habitat quality
- Global conservation status rank, as assigned by NatureServe to each habitat
- Local relevance for biodiversity, depending on whether the site was included in local conservation or biodiversity action plans, strategies, or policies
“The metric generates a score, expressed in biodiversity units, which can then be used to evaluate baseline biodiversity value, consistently track changes over time, perform alternatives analyses, and support the decision-making process in alignment with the mitigation hierarchy,” Ramboll said.
“Core to the metric is the understanding that habitats of larger size and higher quality are better able to support the range of species typically associated with a given habitat, and thereby are of greater value to biodiversity.”
Over 500 habitat types are included in the metric, mostly terrestrially based. These habitats are home to approximately 85,000 species, of which 14,000 are classified as rare, threatened, or endangered, Ramboll said.
While the metric does not explicitly mention voluntary biodiversity credit markets as a potential field of application, Ramboll said the tool builds on the metric developed by the UK’s public body Natural England, which informs the newly established biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy.
Measuring ecosystem and species uplifts is regarded as one of the most critical challenges holding back the nascent biodiversity credit market.
In March, the Brazilian fintech startup Bluebell released a methodology for measuring biodiversity impacts in farms, paving the way for issuing biodiversity credits.
The World Economic Forum estimated in December that global demand for biodiversity credits could reach as much as $180 billion in a radical future scenario, though corporate interest has not yet translated into transactions.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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