Work package 5

WP5 Biodiversity impact accounting in organisations (PI Kotiaho). Alongside climate change, biodiversity loss and deterioration of ecosystems are among the biggest global sustainability challenges. Solving these issues calls for changes in consumption habits and how we operate in all sectors of society, including companies and organisations. Before being able to avoid, mitigate and offset harmful biodiversity impacts, organisations need to be aware of the impacts they are causing. Work package 5 develops an accounting method for assessing the harmful biodiversity impacts, i.e., biodiversity footprint, of organisations. A pilot project, in collaboration with SOK Corporation and Sitra, calculates the biodiversity footprint of S Group, which is one of the largest retail chains in Finland. An outcome of the project is a method for biodiversity impact accounting that will be fully open and available to all organisations. The method combines financial accounts with EXIOBASE database that connects global trade data with environmental impacts and data about biodiversity impacts associated with environmental impacts, such as land use. The accounting method makes the biodiversity impacts of an organisation’s activities and value chain visible and, thus, enables actions to reduce negative impacts.