I am often asked: can you calculate the sustainability of our business? Well, I can. Sustainability includes a lot of divisions: for example, the number of plastic packaging / all products. Or adding up: all the sustainable products in the company. CO2-equivalent tonnes can be counted as well. And water use is calculated in litres. And then there is land use. This right here is biodiversity calculation.
A biodiversity footprint for products is coming. I will explain here, based on my own common sense and input I have received from LUT Assistant Professor Ville Uusitalo (the Biodiful project), what it is all about.
First lets zero in on the sad state of affairs: today, wild vertebrate populations have shrunk by an average of 69% since 1970 and a quarter of species are threatened with extinction. Because biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides are closely linked to the economy and well-being, businesses are also interested – thankfully.
I would also like to wake up consumers here, because the biggest problem we have is the constant increase in consumption. As a result, the biosphere is being consumed at an ever faster rate. Finland’s Earth Overshoot Day is already on 31 March – which means that we Finns already need the resources of four planets, roughly calculated.
So biodiversity means all living things. Diversity of species, genes, ecosystems, habitats, organisms on land, in the sea and in the air are all part of this. Some species are resilient to the climate crisis, while many will disappear with the change. Invasive species can also rapidly destroy diversity by changing the balance of ecosystems. This is the result of species being migrated accidentally, for example through transport, or deliberately moved from one place to another. In addition, invasive species spread to new environments, for example as a result of climate change.
Measuring variability in biodiversity richness
Biodiversity richness is also highly variable. It really does matter the most in the world whether we chop down a rainforest to make a field. In the tropics, the species density is enormous and even a small area of destruction can result in a huge loss. This is why, for example, there is a big debate over palm oil. Of course, a palm oil field is no more ‘dangerous’ in itself than, say, a rapeseed field, but because it is invariably cut down in biodiversity-rich areas, it does a huge amount more damage than a field in the north.
The second bias, which is also present in the international FAO statistics, is the comparison of the size of the crop in organic versus industrial fields. Industrial farming produces more yield per hectare – that is clear from the statistics. But industrial fields also destroy soil biodiversity, whereas organic fields are much better at maintaining a wider ecosystem. This also means that the life of the field is basically infinite, while industrial fields in the most extreme cases are being used up in just a few harvest seasons and more forest being cut down to make way for a new field. I understand that this is surprisingly common – and if research is available, I would love to hear the exact figures. However, biodiversity measurements should take this into account, including by companies.
In any case, there are various challenges in measuring biodiversity and the thinking behind the calculations still needs to be practiced. But typically, then, calculating the biodiversity impacts of land use consists of three key factors:
- Area need
- Its geographical location
- Impact of land use on biodiversity
Encouraging sustainable consumption to help with the challenge
By the way, it is interesting to note that in terms of biodiversity, most of the biodiversity impact of consumption of Finns – and similarly of people in most Western countries – takes place outside of the borders of the nation. According to preliminary results of a study carried out as part of the Biodiful project, significant impacts seem to be shown in countries such as Brazil, Cuba and India. Culprits include coffee, sugar and meat production – all products that we Finns are not immediately ready to give up and of which impacts elsewhere few of us think about. In humorous sense, coffee is often referred to as the national drink of Finland.
That’s why we include encouraging sustainable consumption in our own sustainability software’s criteria. Redirecting consumption away from the most challenging products will provide additional time to address the big systemic problem of the sustainability gap. Source: The power of dietary changes and changes in farming practices towards climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation – The case of Finland, Natasha Järviö et al)
Working towards measuring biodiversity footprint and sustainability
Biodiversity footprints are currently not calculated by companies. However, there are initiatives, such as the ongoing four-year project between the S-Group and Sitra, together with the University of Jyväskylä’s Resource Wisdom community JYU.Wisdom, which aims to use accounting data to calculate the impact of the S-Group’s activities on biodiversity. Infine is also developing a set of criteria for observing biodiversity loss, so tips on similar projects are welcome. Especially if the results are available today and not years from now.
And things get done: we at Infine have completed the product part of our Infine Sustainability Management software for groceries and wood, paper and ceramic -based fast-moving consumer goods. The software can automatically analyse sustainability attributes in nine dimensions, such as
- climate change
- biodiversity
- water
- circular economy
- environment
- human rights
- labour rights
- good Business ethics
- promotion of sustainable consumption
I can tell you that when we started the project, not many people thought we would be able to achieve this. And without the Finland’s ‘Most Sustainable Product’ competition and our amazing Sustainability Panel, and our funders from Business Finland to investor angels, we wouldn’t be this far along. Developing sustainability assessment through practical action has been our key to success. We are now at the stage where our technology has achieved the ability to automatically evaluate thousands of products!
