Why does your business need to measure its biodiversity footprint?

In an era of accelerating biodiversity loss, businesses are under growing pressure to understand and reduce their environmental impacts, not only for regulatory compliance but also to secure their economic models, limit their risk exposure and contribute to a nature-positive future. The Global Biodiversity Score (GBS) is a scientifically grounded, quantitative tool developed by CDC Biodiversité for assessing the biodiversity footprint and ecosystem dependencies of companies across their value chains.

With the GBS, companies can:

  • Measure impacts across their direct operations and upstream/downstream value chains.
  • Leverage existing data used for carbon footprinting (more than half of the required inputs overlap with those collected for greenhouse gas accounting).
  • Establish a baseline to inform biodiversity-related strategies, define impact reductions goals and trajectories aligned with sustainability frameworks, and monitor progress over time.
How the GBS works: Biodiversity Footprint Assessments (BFAs)

The GBS operates similarly to a corporate carbon footprint but focuses on biodiversity. It translates operational and supply-chain data, such as energy use, raw material consumption, fertiliser application, into impacts expressed in MSA·km², where Mean Species Abundance (MSA) reflects ecosystem integrity on a scale from 0 to 100%.

Main steps in a Biodiversity Footprint Assessment (BFA):

  • Perimeter definition: Ensure the relevance of the assessment by determining the most appropriate and representative scope.
  • Data Collection: In addition to financial data, gather operational inputs, energy use, raw materials, fertiliser, land used, etc., many of which are already available from carbon footprint audits.
  • Impact calculation: with the GBS, translate economic activity into biodiversity pressures (e.g., land use, use of natural resource, climate impact and pollution), convert pressures into biodiversity impacts expressed in MSA·km², along your entire value chain (scope 1, 2 and 3) and identify your mean and critical dependencies to ecosystem services.
  • Insight & action: Identify hotspots of impact, prioritise interventions, define reduction targets and trajectories and integrate findings into sustainability strategy and communication.
Featured corporate users of the GBS

Since its corporate launch in 2020, the GBS has been adopted by a growing number of forward-looking companies, many of which are part of the Business for Positive Biodiversity (B4B+) Club, and numerous biodiversity footprint assessments (BFAs) have been completed by CDC Biodiversité and certified assessors.

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Benefits of a BFA using the GBS

Robust, science-based measurement of biodiversity footprint across operations and supply chains.

Prioritisation of biodiversity hotspots and high-influence areas for targeted action.

Strategic alignment with emerging regulations and frameworks (e.g., CSRD, SBTN, TNFD).

Leverage existing data from carbon footprinting to streamline the process.

Capacity building through training and licensing for internal assessment teams or external partners.

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From measurement to contribution to a nature positive future

By conducting a Biodiversity Footprint Assessment using the GBS, companies can shift from passive measurement to proactive impact reduction. The tool enables:

  • Integration of biodiversity considerations into corporate strategy and risk management;
  • Target setting for biodiversity improvements;
  • Transparent and credible sustainability reporting aligned with global expectations;
  • Engagement with suppliers and stakeholders to drive change throughout the value chain.