Ramboll, a global engineering, architecture and consulting firm launches a first-of-its-kind global metric for measuring the biodiversity value of habitats on sites around the world at the UN COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia. The metric supports advancing the UN sustainable development goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The free, open-source metric is a first step towards establishing a common international standard for assessing our planet’s biodiversity using key indicators of ecosystem health. It comes amidst a global biodiversity crisis with over one million plants and animals under threat of extinction and according to the IPBES, the great majority of indicators of ecosystems and biodiversity are showing rapid decline.
“Common global standards for biodiversity assessment are a critical step in the right direction as the global community works to deliver on the targets established in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,‘’ says Vikki Patton, Ramboll’s Nature Positive Services UK Lead. “By offering a transparent and repeatable methodology to support decision-making in line with the mitigation hierarchy, the metric has broad application across business, finance and government to support positive outcomes for land use change.”
For international businesses with operations in the UK, the launch of the global metric will allow them to apply their biodiversity learnings and methodology from the UK consistently across their global operations. By allowing companies to apply existing learnings and processes, time and money can be saved by avoiding duplicating efforts in separate jurisdictions. With business playing a critical role in tackling biodiversity loss, this metric will enable businesses to more efficiently and accurately assess their impacts globally and thereby support them in mitigating these effects.
Supporting common biodiversity standards
Changes in land use and land management are key drivers of biodiversity loss. The metric can be used by organisations, businesses, governments, and other land-managing entities to inform their decision-making processes for ecosystem restoration, conservation projects, land-use planning, landscape design, and development.
Importantly, the metric includes natural and developed habitats, including ‘every day’ habitats without conservation protection. It can help assess biodiversity value for defining action plans and alignment with the global reporting frameworks, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the recommendations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Dan Rockefeller, Ramboll’s lead scientist developing the metric says, “with the complexity and variety of biodiversity and habitats around the world, and the burgeoning need for companies to understand and reduce their impacts, the global community needs common languages to assess and manage biodiversity. By leveraging frameworks like the International Union for Conservation of Nature Global Ecosystem Typology and NatureServe's Ecological Integrity Assessment protocol, we aim to establish a unified approach for evaluating and managing biodiversity that incorporates a global habitat classification system, relevant indicators to characterise habitat condition, and robust assessments to establish conservation priority.”
The Global Biodiversity Metric draws from learnings of other metrics including Natural England, Ramboll’s Americas Biodiversity Metric, and the Singapore Biodiversity Accounting Metric, all of which have developed over time. Peer review of the Global Biodiversity Metric will start in Q4 2024.