Together with the EU Finance & Biodiversity Community and signatories to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, we have compiled an overview of biodiversity measurement methods: the Guide on biodiversity measurement approaches.

The global loss of biodiversity is becoming an increasingly urgent issue, which is why financial institutions are seeking ways to quantify the impact of their investments on biodiversity and their dependence on it. The Guide on biodiversity measurement approaches provides a concise overview of the measurement methods currently in use and under development. The guide will be presented in a webinar on April 1, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

The need for this overview emerged in discussions with the signatories of the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge. They were looking for support in implementing their third commitment – Assessing Impact. The overview of measurement methods is an extension of the chapter on Assessing Impact in the more general Guidance document accompanying the Pledge. Within the Finance & Biodiversity Community (part of the EU Business & Biodiversity Platform), there was also a need for an overview of biodiversity measurement methods specifically aimed at financial institutions. We therefore developed the structure of the guide in collaboration with the banks, investors, insurers, and impact funds that are active in the F&B Community and/or as signatories to the Pledge.

By incorporating the EU B&B Platform’s Workstream Methods into our work, our guide is aligned with the report series Assessment of biodiversity measurement approaches. This series of reports is aimed at both companies and financial institutions and provides detailed information on selecting a measurement method and metric for biodiversity. The new guide can be viewed as an overview of the measurement methods most relevant to financial institutions. It serves as a starting point for financial institutions interested in measuring biodiversity. In 2022, we plan to release an updated version of the Guide to Approaches for Measuring Biodiversity publish.