Ecogain is ending its annual Ecogain Biodiversity Index (EBI) report to focus instead on the CLIMB initiative. CLIMB is a Swedish-developed model to quantify biodiversity and help companies calculate and plan their land use in a sustainable way.
"We have achieved the goals we had with the ECI. Today, everyone knows that biodiversity loss is one of the greatest risks facing humanity. It is time to go one step further." says Ecogain founder Anders Enetjärn.
Since 2018, the Ecogain Biodiversity Index (EBI) has examined how large companies report on biodiversity. The EBI has contributed to significant transparency and to putting the issue on the agenda in several companies. Sweden's business community has taken important steps forward over the years, with several pioneers communicating biodiversity targets. In 2022, EBI was introduced on Nasdaq through the release of two reports; one for Europe's 300 largest listed companies and one for the 100 largest listed companies in the US.
Ecogain is now taking its biodiversity work a step further with its continued investment in CLIMB - a model that allows companies and industry to calculate the current situation, negative and positive impacts on biodiversity. This makes it possible to plan and compensate for their impact on biodiversity. The new measurement tool can be used for credible and transparent reporting of biodiversity impacts and communicate the value of nature in a way that was not possible before.
"What is ground-breaking about CLIMB is that it allows you to calculate nature losses - and gains - resulting from land use change." says Anders Enetjärn, founder of Ecogain.
On May 22, CLIMB will be launched at Näringslivets Hus in Stockholm. Ecogain has invested in the project for three years together with ten major players in business and the public sector. Several of them will be present at the launch to discuss the application and share their experiences from the development project.
Ecogain continues to work to promote business opportunities to achieve business benefits by addressing biodiversity and contributing to sustainable land use. With CLIMB, Ecogain and partners want to make it easier for companies to minimize their negative impact on nature, get better predictability in environmental assessments and meet the new requirements and expectations that come around companies' work with and reporting on biodiversity.
Facts about CLIMB
CLIMB is an acronym for Changing Land Use Impact on Biodiversity and is a collaborative project between Ecogain and a number of actors in Swedish industry. The project is part of the Strategic Innovation Program Swedish Mining Innovation and is a joint initiative of Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency. The model is used to calculate the current situation and the positive and negative impact on biodiversity in connection with changes in land use.
CLIMB can be applied, among other things, to:
- compare localizations and layouts
- overview and evaluate different effects of investments
- increase predictability in environmental assessment
- enable monitoring against targets
- report impacts on biodiversity
- develop new biodiversity key performance indicators
The basic formula for the measurement tool is based on the British DEFRAS Biodiversity Metric, but in CLIMB it has been further developed and adapted to Nordic conditions. CLIMB uses standardized input data and expert knowledge to plan, prioritize and calculate parameters for restoration and compensation - resulting in profitability for both the company and nature. READ MORE
