| Tool ID | Name | SBTN steps | Organisations involved in development | What sectors does it cover? | Format | Brief summary | Relevance for fashion sector (high/med/low) | Does the approach require traceability before it can be applied? | If yes, what is level that traceability is required to? | Minimum data inputs required by user | Accessibility | External consultant required to apply/interpret tool? | Responsiveness to change (does it change over time in response to company management) | Website |
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| 1 | Agrobiodiversity Index (ABDi) | None | CGIAR, European Commission, Italian Development Cooperation, CIAT, Bioversity International | Agricultural commodities | Methodology report | The Agrobiodiversity Index (ABDi) was designed by Bioversity International to assess the risk of low agrobiodiversity in food and agricultural sectors (agrobiodiversity - the plants, animals and microorganisms used for food and agriculture - is recognised as a resource by the agricultural sector). It measures agrobiodiversity across 3 domains: nutrition, agriculture and genetic resources. The framework is based on 22 indicators, which can be used to assess components of agrobiodiversity in markets, consumption, agricultural production, genetic resource management and related actions and commitments. The first version of the ABDi was released in March 2019, and further updates are expected in 2021 and 2022. The framework is action-orientated, and identifies policy and business actions, good practises, risks and opportunities and areas for improvement, to increase the use and conservation of agrobiodiversity for sustainable food systems. The ABDi focuses mainly on the food sector rather than wider agricultural production. However, since the food and fashion sectors intersect, its analyses may be of value to companies involved in textiles as well. It has a range of applications that can support mitigation of impacts on biodiversity, including risk assessments, planning interventions, aligning with global policy and benchmarking against competitors. Commitment, action and status indicators are all relevant to what the company should be focussing on, and the guidance on use is clear. As its name implies, the tool assesses risks caused by low agrobiodiversity, such as vulnerability to pests and diseases, etc. Its focus is largely on the biodiversity of species that provide direct services to humans through agricultural production, rather than the status of biodiversity per se. The tool requires traceability to site-level. | Low | Yes | Tool can be applied at multiple scales | For countries: The main data sources for Commitment indicators are two major United Nations databases, covering nutrition policies (the Global database on the Implementation of Nutrition Action GINA) [4] and food and agriculture policies and legislation (FAOLEX) [5]. For companies and projects: The data sources are strategies, policies and reports downloaded from the official website of the company (e.g. sustainability and corporate responsibility reports, annual reports, guidelines). | Open access | Easy to use | Measures actual impact and therefore responsive to site-level management measures | https://www.bioversityinternational.org/abd-index/, Methodology: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/106478/Methodology_Index_1.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y |
| 2 | B Impact Assessment | Assess, Measure, Track | B Lab, B Corp | n/a | Interactive tool | The B Impact Assessment (BIA) was designed by B-Lab, in collaboration with global business leaders. It is a free, confidential platform designed to help measure and manage a company's positive impact on their workers, community, customers and environment. The BIA assesses the impact of the company’s day-to-day operations and its business model—both what they do and how they do it. It focuses on giving businesses the ability to create value to their customers, employees and community, as well as the environment. The B Impact Assessment provides standards, benchmarks and tools to help businesses compare, improve and assess their impact. The assessment is a response-based questionnaire that generates a numeric score, and determines where improvements can be made to attract more customers and employees, recognise competitive advantages, and increase their reputation. To become a certified B corporation, a minimum score of 80 is required. Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all their stakeholders as part of the terms of the Certification.The B Impact Assessment is designed to increase a company's positive impact of day-to-day operations and business model. It allows companies to recognise their impact and take actions towards improving their impact. The assessment focuses on environmental impact and not directly biodiversity. The tool is helpful for benchmarking and guidance for action, but since it does not offer quanitfied impact analysis (the assessments are qualitative), it cannot be used to set quanitified targets. | Low | No | n/a | Company’s financials. It may be helpful to have either a Profit & Loss Statement or your accounting system (e.g. Quickbooks) open. Vendor Ledger with amount spent in the 12 months. This will help you answer many questions related to Suppliers. Product bill of materials or Client/Project list from the past 12 months. This may help answer many questions in the “Impact Business Models” section. | Open access | Easy to use | Performance indicators that reflect response of companies, but does not reflect change in state in response to site-level management measures | https://bimpactassessment.net |
| 3 | Biodiversity Footprint Financial Institutions (BFFI) | n/a | ASN banks, CREM, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality | Finance | Methodology document | The Biodiversity Footprint Financial Institutions (BFFI) method has been used by ASN Bank in the Netherlands to calculate both the positive and negative impacts of financial investments on biodiversity. It provides an overall biodiversity footprint of the economic activities a financial institution (FI) invests in, by assessing the drivers of biodiversity loss that are linked to the financial institutions investments. The BFFI methodology calculates the impact of each investment as the (expected) change in species in an area during a certain period. The BFFI methodology can, and will, use direct, location specific data where available.The Biodiversity Footprint Financial Insitutions (BFFI) method focuses on financial portfolios rather than corporate level / company impact. It allows the calculation of a high-level footprint, and an understanding of positive and negative impacts. The quantitative metric is not responsive to management interventions by companies they are investing in. The tool is for use by financial institutions and investors, and may be of interest to fashion companies whose investors may be interested in or are already using it. | low | No | n/a | Footprint on a portfolio level: Investments by the FI: sums and companies/funds invested in. Financial turnover of the companies within the investment portfolio (from financial databases). Footprint of a single investment: Investment by the FI (sum and company/fund invested in), Financial turnover of the company/project invested in (from financial databases), Investee specific data on inputs and outputs (when available). | Open access | External consultant likely required | Measures potential impact and therefore able to track change in overall footprint, but not finer-scale management measures. Can use directly measured data. Characterisation factors that are adjusted for different management measures are in development. | https://www.government.nl/documents/reports/2019/09/25/report-positive-impacts-in-the-biodiversity-footprint-financial-institutions |
| 4 | Biodiversity Footprint Methodology and Calculator | n/a | PlansUp | Agricultural commodities, Minerals | Interactive tool | The Biodiversity Footprint Methodology and Calculator was designed by PlansUp to assess the current and future biodiversity footprint of a company’s product. It is a pressure based methodology, that is used to quantify the biodiversity impact of a product, sector or company for the three major pressure types: Land use, Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and pollution (nitrogen and phosphate emission to water). The methodology can be used to determine which part of the supply chain leads to the highest impact, and to test effectiveness of company measures. The Biodiversity Footprint Calculator is a simple open source tool that allows users to calculate the terrestrial impact of land use and GHG for the most relevant parts of the production chain.The Biodiversity Footprint Methodology and Calculator focuses on pressures and impact of a company from Land use, Greenhouse gas (GHG) and Nitrogen and Phosphorus emissions to water. It allows the calculation of a high-level footprint, but not company level management measures. The tool does not permit analysis of specific fashion-relevant materials, but does cover drivers of biodiversity loss for fashion companies. It has an easy-to-use interface on the website and provides outputs which are interpretable using a simple unit. The tool does not provide guidance on actions. The tool is not spatially explicit, so to get disaggregated data for a broad supply chain would require using the tool multiple times which might quickly become impractical; the tool is therefore best suited to assessing impacts of one or a few components of a value chain. | Medium | No | n/a | Impact driver data including land area occupied | Open access | External consultant likely required | Measures potential impact and therefore able to track change in overall footprint, but not finer-scale management measures. Can use directly measured data. Characterisation factors that are adjusted for different management measures are in development. | https://www.plansup.nl/biodiversity-footprint-calculator/ |
| 5 | Biodiversity Impact Metric | Assess, Measure, Track | CISL, The Biodiversity Consultancy | Agricultural commodities | Methodology document | The Biodiversity Impact Metric was developed by the Natural Capital Impact Group at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), supported by The Biodiversity Consultancy. It can be used to assess and track how a business’ sourcing affects nature, through the biodiversity lost as a result of agricultural production. The metric allows comparison of potential impacts across different sourcing locations and between commodities. The metric allows a company to undertake a risk-screening of its sourcing in order to identify where the greatest impacts are likely to occur, thereby helping to prioritise further investigations and interventions.The Biodiversity Impact Metric provides a flexible framework for assessing land-use impacts on biodiversity. Land use is often the most significant driver of biodiversity impacts for a company and measuring this will capture a significant portion of overall impacts; however, it will likely need supplementing with a methodology which covers other impact drivers (such as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions). The method relies on information related to where you source your raw materials, and how much land is occupied for that production (this can be derived if primary data is not available). However, the methodology requires specialist expertise to implement, as it does not currently have a user-friendly tool. | Medium | Yes | Tool can be applied at multiple scales | Sourcing location and yield | Partial open access | External consultant likely required | Measures potential impact and therefore responds to changes in volumes sourced as different regions use different land areas to produce a set yield. This will change based on investment decisions but not management/performance by those companies | https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/resources/natural-resource-security-publications/measuring-business-impacts-on-nature |
| 6 | Biodiversity Indicators for Site-based Impacts | Assess, Measure, Track | UNEP-WCMC | Minerals | Methodology document | Biodiversity Indicators for Site-based Impacts is a joint initiative between UNEP-WCMC, Conservation International and Fauna & Flora International, with support from IPIECA and the Proteus Partnership. The methodology provides a structured approach to organising monitoring data into an assessment of site based performance. It allows assessment of pressures, biodiversity state and management response, with agreed thresholds at sites. The methodology has been piloted by extractives companies throughout 2019-2020. Although focused on extractives, it is applicable for any sector with site-based impacts.Biodiversity Indicators for Site-based Impacts provides a detailed framework for monitoring site-level impacts, and covers pressures, state and response. Although developed for extractives, as it is a flexible framework it has potential to be applied by the Fashion sector to assess biodiversity performance at production sites. However, by covering site-based impacts, it requires relatively detailed site-level data so does not cover the full value chain. | Low | Yes | Farm Level | Site level data on species and habitats (can be through secondary data) | Open access | External consultant likely required | Measures actual impact using site-level data and is therefore responsive to management | https://www.unep-wcmc.org/featured-projects/biodiversity-indicators-for-site-based-impacts |
| 7 | Biodiversity Monitoring System for the Food Sector (BMS) | None | EU Life programme, LIFE Food & Biodiversity consortium of Global Nature Fund (GNF), Lake Constance Foundation, Fundación Global Nature, Instituto Superior Técnico, Agentur auf!, Solagro | Agricultural commodities | Interactive tool | The Biodiversity Monitoring System for the Food Sector (BMS) tool has been created to offer food standards and food companies the possibility to monitor indicators with relevance for biodiversity of their certified farms / their producers. The monitoring is divided into two levels; Level 1 monitoring is a system wide approach with 25 indicators to evaluate the potential created for biodiversity (ecological structures, biotope-corridors, buffer zones, etc.) and the reduction of negative impacts on biodiversity (use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, erosion, water use, etc.). Level 2 is currently in development but will comprise of in-depth sampling beyond the scope of certification. It monitors mid- and long-term effects of certification on wild biodiversity on the farm and its direct surroundings by selected key indicator species.The Biodiversity Monitoring System for the Food Sector allows companies to monitor indicators to directly measure their impacts and risks on farms. It is focussed on the food sector, but many of the metrics and indicators should be relevant to textile production, especially where food and fashion intersect. | Medium | No | n/a | Data answering 25 performance indicator questions | Open access | External consultant likely required | Performance indicators that reflect response of companies, but does not reflect change in state in response to site-level management measures | https://www.business-biodiversity.eu/en/biodiversity-performance-tool |
| 8 | Biodiversity Net Gain Calculator | n/a | The Environment Bank | Agricultural commodities, Minerals | Details unavailable (tool still in development) | The Biodiversity Net Gain Calculator (BNGC) has been developed by Arcadis to provide insight in the land use related biodiversity value on operational sites of a company. The main purpose of the BNGC is to provide insight in the actual and potential biodiversity value of the different spatial units of the site by means of a metric built on extent, condition and significance. It focuses on land-use pressures on biodiversity, and provides a quality score attributed to the extent of unbuilt (green) site, taking into account the presence of rare or protected species and habitats. It is based on a site visit by a biodiversity expert, and therefore provides a high resolution and accuracy.The Biodiversity Net Gain Calculator is able to demonstrate compliance to standards on a site-level basis, helps apply the biodiversity mitigation hierarchy, and helps to develop No Net Loss commitments. It is a flexible approach and is able to take the local ecoregion into context. However, it is limited to site-level, and looks only at land use as a driver for biodiversity loss and not other drivers. | Medium | Yes | Farm Level | Area, condition and connectivity of onsite and offsite habitats | Details unavailable (tool still in development) | Details unavailable (tool still in development) | Measures actual impact but designed for calculating offsets, rather than monitoring performance | http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5850908674228224 |
| 9 | Biodiversity Performance Tool for Food sector (BPT) | None | Solagro, Tecnico Lisboa, Auf A good for Good, Fundacion Global Nature, Global Nature Fund, Bodensee Stifung, EU Life Programme, DBU, La Region Occitanie, Ministere de L'agriculture et de l'alimentation, Fundacion Biodiversidad, Ministerio Para La Transicion Ecologica, Ministere de La transition Ecologicique et SOlidaire | Agricultural commodities | Interactive tool | The Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) is being elaborated in the frame of the EU LIFE Project “Biodiversity in standards and labels for the food sector” and aims at proposing a methodology to assess the integration of functional biodiversity at farm level for food sector actors (product quality or sourcing managers) as well as for certification companies (certifiers and auditors). The BPT should help farmers and farm advisors to elaborate and implement sound Biodiversity Action Plans, which contribute substantially to a better biodiversity performance on farm level. The tool will support auditors and certifiers of standards as well as product, quality and sourcing managers of food companies to better assess the preservation and improvement of integration of biodiversity at farm level.The Biodiversity Performance Tool (BPT) helps farms and farm advisors to develop Biodiversity Action Plans. It is focused at the farm level and does not cover further up the value chain. Focused on the food sector, it is most relevant to textiles that intersect with food production, and companies who are- or plan to- improve biodiversity outcomes at farm level as part of their biodiversity strategies. | Low | Yes | Farm level | Information on farming type, presence of semi-natural habitats, types of farming practices applied, knowledge of farmer's awareness and involvement | Open access | Easy to use | Performance indicators that reflect response of companies, but does not reflect change in state in response to site-level management measures | https://www.business-biodiversity.eu/en/biodiversity-performance-tool |
| 10 | Biological Diversity Protocol (BD Protocol) | n/a | Biodiversity Disclosure Project, National Biodiversity and Business Network, Endangered Wildlife Trust | Agricultural commodities, Minerals | Methodology document | The Biological Diversity Protocol is aligned to the Natural Capital Protocol, and was developed by the Biodiversity Disclosure Project. It provides biodiversity-specific guidance to measuring changes in the state of natural capital (step 6 of the Natural Capital Protocol), by providing guidance on how to measure change(s) in biodiversity components affected by business. It differs from the other measurement approaches as it offers an accounting and reporting framework, which helps to consolidate biodiversity impact data in a standardised, comparable, credible and unbiased manner. It is designed to generate two types of biodiversity information: biodiversity footprint (impacts on ecosystems); and species-level data. The Biological Diversity Protocol provides a detailed framework for compiling biodiversity accounts in alignment with financial accounting methods. It provides guidance on disclosing biodiversity impacts, but is focused more at site than corporate level. Targets and actions are framed around the concept of the Mitigation Hierarchy, which adheres to generally accepted best practice on biodiversity impact mitigation. It includes a verification, reporting and disclosure component which most other tools lack. | High | Yes | Farm Level | Primary data collected on ecosystem extent / condition and taxa populations at site level. Can also use modelled footprint data. Ecosystem impact data are consolidated / aggregated in 3 KPIs: Total, Positive and Negative Biodiversity Footprints. Species impact data remain segregated per species with the same 3 KPIs. | Open access | External consultant likely required | Measures actual impact through accounting for gains and losses over time (historical and annual changes) and is therefore able to reflect company management actions | https://www.nbbnbdp.org/bp-protocol.html |
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