Guidelines for planning and monitoring corporate biodiversity performance INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE DRAFT VERSION FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Please submit your comments by email, no later than 30 September 2020, to [email protected] About IUCN IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and some 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards. 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Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being. www.iucn.org https://twitter.com/IUCN/ Guidelines for planning and monitoring corporate biodiversity performance The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN or other partnering organisations. Copyright: © 2020 IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature Disclaimer: This document is a draft and is provided for information only. The information contained herein is subject to change, therefore do not cite information from this document. The final version will be published in January 2021. Authors: PJ Stephenson, IUCN Species Survival Commission - Species Monitoring Specialist Group Giulia Carbone, IUCN Global Business & Biodiversity Programme Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 6 Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................................................... 7 Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................................................ 10 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Biodiversity indicators for monitoring performance at the corporate level ............................... 11 1.2 Target audience and expectations .............................................................................................. 14 2. The Building Blocks of the Guidelines ............................................................................................... 16 2.1 Plan-Do-Check-Act model ........................................................................................................... 16 2.2 Scalable goals and indicators ...................................................................................................... 16 2.3 A linked indicator set ................................................................................................................... 16 3. The Four-Stage Approach .................................................................................................................. 19 Stage 1 Priorities: Understand the company’s impact on biodiversity and identify priority species, habitats and ecosystem services ........................................................................................................... 21 What the company needs to do ........................................................................................................ 21 Expected outputs .............................................................................................................................. 32 Stage 2 Ambitions: Develop corporate biodiversity vision, goals and objectives and identify key actions to deliver them ......................................................................................................................... 33 What the company needs to do ........................................................................................................ 33 Expected outputs .............................................................................................................................. 39 Stage 3 Indicators: Develop a framework of linked indicators that allows data aggregation at corporate level ...................................................................................................................................... 40 What the company needs to do ........................................................................................................ 40 Expected outputs .............................................................................................................................. 48 Stage 4 Implementation: Collect, share and analyse data, learn lessons and adapt ............................ 49 What the company needs to do ........................................................................................................ 49 Expected outputs .............................................................................................................................. 54 4. Enabling conditions ........................................................................................................................... 55 4.1 Stakeholder engagement ............................................................................................................ 55 4.2 Capacity and partnership development ...................................................................................... 55 4.3 Linking company operations to corporate performance………………………………………………………….57 5. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 58 6. References Cited................................................................................................................................ 59 1 Tables Table 1. A selection of activities from a variety of companies showing the pressures they place on biodiversity and the potential impacts. Table 2. Prioritizing the pressures a company needs to tackle. Table 3. Examples of priority biodiversity options for a selection of company types and scales. Table 4: Summary of company planning outputs after Stage 2. Table 5. Examples of how state and benefit indicators can be used by companies. Table 6. Examples of how pressure indicators can be used by companies. Table 7. Examples of how response indicators can be used by companies. Table 8: Summary of company planning outputs after Stage 3. Table 9. A selection of databases that might help companies monitor some of their indicators. Boxes Box 1: The main pressures on biodiversity Box 2: Global biodiversity goals Box 3: Species taxonomy Box 4: The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Box 5: How companies can contribute to global biodiversity goals Box 6: Indicators along theories of change. Box 7: Dashboards Figures Figure 1. Pressures on biodiversity Figure 2. A graphic to illustrate how data generated by applying the Guidelines will help measure performance at multiple levels using scalable goals and indicators. Figure 3. An example of an indicator hierarchy. Figure 4. A framework of linked indicators Figure 5. A graphic to illustrate the stages of the IUCN Biodiversity Guidelines for Business. Figure 6. Example of a goal hierarchy and a theoretical example for an energy company. Figure 7. An example of a theory of change 2 “What single indicator should we use to know how we perform on biodiversity?” they asked. “What’s your question?” she answered. 3 Executive Summary Biodiversity is the diversity of living organisms, and includes the species, habitats and ecosystems that co-exist on Earth and which provide the vital ecosystems services on which humans and nature depend. These Guidelines offer an approach for choosing and using scalable linked indicators to measure a company’s biodiversity performance at the corporate level. Businesses taking action on biodiversity, whether to mitigate risks or attain net positive gains, increasingly need information on the state of biodiversity, the pressures on species and ecosystems, and the effectiveness of their responses, in order to plan and monitor their operations. However, nature is complex and significant challenges exist in developing indicators that provide clear and simple measures of biodiversity that are relevant to business