Despite an increasing awareness of the material risks that biodiversity loss presents to business and the growing availability of biodiversity measurement methodologies for business, their use has been limited to a few front-runner companies so far. Measures of corporate biodiversity impact and performance are still not broadly agreed upon, which creates confusion and prevents their broader market uptake.

Align came into being with the objective to come up with recommendations for a standardised approach to biodiversity measurement that can be used in different business contexts, that is scientifically robust and fit for purpose.

These recommendations aim to support broader sustainability measurement and disclosure efforts such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Global Reporting Initiative revision of its biodiversity indicators, the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures framework, the Science Based Targets Network guidance, and Align’s sister project – Transparent.

After various consultation rounds with experts and business practitioners from our Technical Hub and Community of Practice, the Align team shared its Draft Zero of the Recommendations for a standard on biodiversity measurement and valuation within the Align Community.  Recommendations will be released and open for public consultation in June, after the final revisions in May. Stay tuned!

Next steps:

• 13 April 2022 – Presentation of the Draft Zero to Align’s Community of Practice
• April 2022 – Review from the Advisory board, Technical Hub, Community of Practice
• May 2022 – Revision of draft recommendations
• June 2022 – Public consultation

For more information on Align and the different opportunities for engagement, download the information flyer or visit the Align webpage.

You can also express your interest to join the Align Community of Practice and Community of interest.