The Biodiversity Consultancy Impact Report
Impact Report 2023-2025
thebiodiversityconsultancy.com
Where business and nature thrive
Table of Contents
CEO’s foreword 01
Setting the bar 08
The road ahead 11
Our approach to impact reporting 02
Our role and reach 04
Supplementary: Data and methodology 12
Our influence 06
CEO’s foreword
I am delighted to introduce the first public Impact Report from The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC). In doing so, I would like to recognise the significant work previously undertaken internally to assess our impact, led by our former CEO, Helen Temple. At TBC, our mission is to create a world where business and nature thrive. Through collaboration with our diverse network of clients, stakeholders and partners, and by playing a leading role in relevant science and innovation, we strive to enable transformative change across sectors and regions.
Tim Curtis, Chief Executive Officer
This report outlines how we deliver positive impact, predominantly through our client work and our highly valued partnerships with academic institutions, NGOs, standard setters, and industry bodies. It also highlights client case studies that bring these impacts to life. Measuring the difference we make is vital to achieving our mission. Guided by rigorous scientific principles, we recognise that doing so is difficult, but we are committed to doing it transparently and continuously improving. This report marks the start of our journey in measuring and reporting our impact more systematically. We are determined to refine our approach, ensuring our services remain both progressive and effective. Finally, thank you to our clients – our impact is achieved mainly through and with them, and we are fortunate to be able to work on a huge range of significant and influential projects.
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Our approach to impact reporting
TBC brings together a global team of around 70 professionals whose collective expertise enables us to have a large influence on how businesses engage with nature, despite our modest size. We work with private, public, and third sector clients to help them understand and act on their impacts and contribute towards a nature positive future. Measuring nature-related impacts is not always straightforward. While we guide our clients to focus on ‘state of nature’ indicators and the positive effects of their actions on those indicators, this approach doesn’t translate easily to assessing TBC’s own impact, for two main reasons.
Laura Sonter, PhD Director of Science & Policy
First, TBC itself has a relatively limited direct impact on nature. While we dedicate 12.5% of our annual profits to conservation projects (see examples here) and promote nature internally through our own Environmental Sustainability Policy, our positive influence is primarily indirect – achieved through our work with clients and our broader efforts to enable business action for nature. Second, while in some cases it may be possible to quantify the nature-related impacts achieved by our clients, or those arising from guidance we have helped to develop, it would be extremely difficult to rigorously attribute those outcomes directly to our work. For these reasons, we use proxy indicators to reflect the impact we have through the work we do along two impact pathways: supporting direct, measurable benefits for nature and leading the system change that enables further benefit . This includes through supporting projects, companies, and financial institutions to better understand their biodiversity risks and opportunities and develop and implement ambitious and science- based nature strategies and action plans. We also drive leading practice across sectors and markets, working with industry associations, standard setters, academic institutions, conservation NGOs, policymakers, and others to make the structural interventions that collectively enable transformative change.
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We achieve depth and breadth of impact along two pathways
Direct, measurable benefit for nature
System change enabling benefits
Measurable on-the-ground impacts - protecting high-value biodiversity through mitigation and management.
Demonstration effect: showing what good practice looks like and shifting norms.
Site-based services: mining and renewables
Proof that profitable nature positive investments work - encouraging others to follow.
Directing finance towards high-quality nature projects.
Nature finance
Company-wide action to reduce negative impacts and enhance positive contributions through operations and supply chains.
Corporate Nature Strategies
Raising investor expectations so that access to capital depends on nature action.
Portfolio-level change as investors influence company behaviour through disclosure and accountability.
By shifting expectations of investors and banks, corporate access to capital becomes dependent on action on nature.
Mainstream Finance
Standards and Guidance
Promotes better practice through adoption of shared standards and tools.
"Raising the bar" by setting higher benchmarks and influencing the wider system.
This report provides further detail on the indicators we use to measure our impact and explains how we use them to illustrate our impact achieved over the past two financial years (2023/24 and 2024/25). Fundamentally, our continued impact depends on delivering value to our clients and enabling them to build positive, mutually beneficial relationships with the natural world.
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Our role and reach
The impact we have on nature is almost entirely indirect and achieved through the work we do to guide and support some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies and brands during the last two financial years: ● We supported 163 companies with a combined market capitalisation of more than 3.8 trillion USD – comparable to the size of the London Stock Exchange. ● We generated at least 45% of our revenue from these clients who were ranked in the ‘top 10’ of their respective sectors.
We work with the biggest and most influential companies and brands
Case study: Understanding portfolio-wide biodiversity risk at EQT
# 1
in Food & Beverages
Private-sector development institution
# 1
EQT is one of the world’s biggest private equity firms. We worked with their infrastructure arm to build a high-level understanding of exposures to nature-related risk across its investment portfolio. Our work helped EQT strengthen its approach to assessing and evaluating physical risks and nature dependencies and has led to action-oriented next steps for engaging portfolio companies on managing their own supply chains.
# 1
in Beauty & Personal care
# 1
in Offshore Wind
# 2
in Private equity firms
# 4
in Mining
# 8
in Energy
Ranking basis varies by sector: revenue, market capitalisation, capital raised (5-year fundraising), or sector-specific leadership statements. Ranking correct as of research undertaken in 2025. (1) https://consumergoods.com/top-100-consumer-goods-companies-2024 (2) https://www.ifc.org/en/about (3) https://companiesmarketcap.com/aud/cosmetics/largest-companies-by-market-cap/ (4) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1368762/offshore-wind-power-capacity-by-developer-worldwide/ (5) https://www.privateequityinternational.com/pei-300/
(6) https://companiesmarketcap.com/aud/mining/largest-mining-companies-by-market-cap/ (7) https://companiesmarketcap.com/aud/energy/largest-companies-by-market-cap/
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Through these partnerships, our advice reaches deep into global value chains with significant implications for biodiversity. However, as we’ve grown, our client base also now spans some of the world’s most impactful product supply chains, meaning our reach extends beyond any single client relationship. A simple chocolate bar illustrates this extended reach – from the bauxite mined to produce its aluminium wrapper to the hazelnuts harvested for its filling: ● Our mining sector clients produce about one quarter of global bauxite supply 1 including operations in Guinea, West Africa, where mining can affect habitats of Critically Endangered Western Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). ● Our food & beverages clients collectively use more than a quarter of the world’s production of hazelnuts 2 , much of it sourced from Turkey’s biodiverse production landscapes that host threatened and endemic plant species.
Our clients collectively represent one quarter of global supply chains for these key commodities
Bauxite supply chain
25%
Hazelnut supply chain
25%
Case study: Ferrero’s work to reduce its nature impacts, across supply chains, strategies and sites
Top three confectionary maker Ferrero is working to understand and reduce its impacts on nature, particularly those linked to hazelnut farms in ecologically sensitive regions. We have helped Ferrero quantify impact, identify priority habitats, co-design interventions, and put a practical nature framework in place, with recommended targets and timelines.
Through this partnership, Ferrero has moved from commitment to concrete action on nature.
1 This information comes from publicly available sources (not client data). 2 This information comes from publicly available sources (not client data).
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Our influence
We forge long-term relationships with our clients . Integrating nature into business decision-making is often complex and takes time. Partnering over the long term enables us to build trust, maintain momentum, and deliver positive and lasting change. Over our last two financial years: ● We earned 55% of our revenue from clients that we held long-term relationships with (of greater than two years). ● The average length of client relationships was 3.7 years . We work with ambitious companies . We advise our clients on ambition and target setting, and we also support clients who have made public commitments to take meaningful and measurable action on nature. ● To date, we’ve worked with more than 57 clients across 10 industry sectors, who made public ‘no net loss’, ‘net gain’, or ‘nature positive’ commitments 3 .
Long-term relationships with our clients
Mining & Quarrying
Energy
Fashion & Apparel
Investment & Financial Service
Food, Beverage & Tobacco
Paper & Pulp
Automotive
Construction
Luxury goods (Jewelry & Watches)
Media
0
5
10
15
20
25
Clients with nature commitments
3 This indicator reflects our impact in helping clients deliver on their commitments, rather than in setting the targets themselves. Most of these 57 commitments were made before we began working with clients, as we only recorded those made during our first year of engagement (see Methods).
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Our clients tell us that we help them deliver results on nature and, given that we already work with influential, ambitious companies – many with public nature commitments – this reinforces our confidence in the positive impact of our services. ● 97% of our clients who provided feedback on our services (n=33) reported TBC had helped them achieve their biodiversity goals. ● 95% of these clients also said that they are ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with our service.
Case study: Driving biodiversity best practice with EDF
We’ve supported EDF (Électricité de France) power solutions for more than six years, including on the Mpatamanga Hydropower Storage Project in southern Malawi, delivered in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), SN Power and the Government of Malawi. Our role has been to design and help implement a site-based Biodiversity Strategy that demonstrates what pragmatic, high-integrity action looks like. Our work – including development of a Biodiversity Action Plan and Offset Strategy that meets the development bank requirements - shows how robust biodiversity management can align with, and ultimately unlock, nature positive finance for major infrastructure projects.
Some of our client work is also designed to enable action by other businesses , at their corporate and operational scales, such as the Biodiversity Footprint Impact from Sites tool that we co-developed with energy provider, TotalEnergies.
Case study: Developing a biodiversity impact framework with TotalEnergies
We co-developed the Biodiversity Footprint Impact from Sites (BFIS) with TotalEnergies – a framework to evaluate, prioritise, manage, monitor, and report on biodiversity impacts across a portfolio of operations. BFIS provides a pragmatic and usable approach to manage the biodiversity impacts of company operations, in line with both regulations and voluntary frameworks. We believe the BFIS framework has the potential to support many companies, from the energy sector and beyond, to address the challenges of biodiversity management reporting as it has been developed in close partnership with the business itself (TotalEnergies) and meet the right balance between scientific rigour and pragmaticism.
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Setting the bar
We ‘set the bar’ for leading practice across sectors and markets . We collaborate with a range of stakeholders toproducesector-leading guidance, standards, research and innovation. These contributions help make the structural interventions that collectively transform the systems within which businesses operate. ● During the last two financial years, we worked with 41 industry associations, development banks, NGOs and standard setters, to produce high-profile pieces of guidance. This included work with the International Finance Corporation, International Council on Mining and Metals, the Science Based Targets Network, and the Nature Positive Initiative.
Case study: Working with Verra on its Nature Framework for biodiversity credits
SDVM002
Verra sets leading standards for climate action and sustainable development to enable channeling finance toward projects with high-integrity outcomes. The launch of its Nature Framework under the Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) Program, introduces a credible and science-informed methodology for generating biodiversity credits (“Nature Credits”) intended to incentivise conservation and restoration activities. We worked with Verra, the largest standard setter in the voluntary carbon market, to design a pioneering biodiversity crediting framework, the Verra Nature Framework. We co-designed the approach with Verra to create a methodology that is built on lessons learned in the voluntary carbon market and scientific literature. We used these findings to co- design an approach for quantifying a standardised unit increase in biodiversity attributable to project interventions, that is applicable to any ecosystem in the world. This partnership contributes to building the global architecture needed for high-quality nature credits, helping to align private finance goals with measurable biodiversity outcomes.
NATURE FRAMEWORK
In collaboration with
Version 1.0
29 October 2024
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We underpin our work in the best available science, and we contribute to the science which provides the foundation for private sector action on biodiversity. Our scientists publish novel, peer-reviewed research cited by academics and used to inform policy. ● Over 2023-25, at least 20 TBC employees published in the peer-reviewed literature . Some papers of these papers were produced for clients or to support our internal science priorities. ● We have deep scientific expertise across our staff, evidenced by more than 35 peer- reviewed publications 4 and active links with leading universities.
Contribute to the science which provides the foundation for private sector action on biodiversity
1300
975
650
325
0
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Our science includes influential contributions on the nature positive journey for business, allocating the costs of avoiding biodiversity loss, and avian collision risk modelling. Several papers have provided early operational frameworks in these areas and are cited by leading researchers and practitioners. We focus our research efforts where we can add unique value as a bridge between conservation science and the practical needs of business.
4 Scientific papers are listed for calendar rather than financial years – see Methods for further detail. See The Biodiversity Consultancy’s Google Scholar page for a complete list.
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We also maintain close partnerships with leading academic institutions, such as the University of Cambridge, through our Evidence Champions partnership, the University of Oxford through the Nature Positive Hub, and the University of Queensland through adjunct appointments and our engagement with their PhD student industry placement programme.
Case study: Strengthening evidence-based biodiversity action with the University of Cambridge
We partner with the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and the Conservation Evidence group to improve how businesses measure and mitigate their biodiversity impacts. Together, we have collaborated to develop evidence-based principles for biodiversity management, shared perspectives on implementing these in practice, and tested new biodiversity metrics for real business use cases. As an Evidence Champion, TBC helps to promote effective actions to protect and restore biodiversity in the private sector - ensuring that the best available science directly informs our advice to clients.
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The road ahead
Measuring impact is hard, but essential . This first Impact Report is a step on the journey to more explicit consideration and measurement of impact across TBC’s client project, science and policy work, business strategy and operations. Over the next year, we will refine our approach to measurement, expand the scope of what we report, introduce a temporal dimension to all of our indicators, and continue to improve our own direct positive impact. While we already track our operational carbon emissions (Scopes 1–3), we will set, disclose and start reporting on ambitious carbon targets aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Similarly, just as we work with clients to transform global supply chains, we ensure our own procurement reflects these same standards. We will explore opportunities to report on our purchase of certified and sustainably sourced materials. Through our TBC Conservation Fund, to which we proudly contribute 12.5% of annual profits, we will continue to invest in projects selected by our team of nature experts for their measurable benefits to species, ecosystems and the advancement of conservation science. Over the coming year, we plan to obtain feedback on their positive impacts, including their potential social benefits. Finally, TBC makes significant in-kind investments in driving innovation in science and policy. This work sets our business apart, enhances the quality of our work for clients, and helps us attract and retain exceptional talent. By better tracking these investments — and the impact they create by expanding our reach and raising the bar for business action — we can take a more strategic approach to growing our impact. We welcome input from our clients and partners as we refine our approach, to ensure that The Biodiversity Consultancy maximises its potential to create positive impact and contribute to global goals for nature.
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Supplementary: Data and methodology
Reporting boundary The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC) calculated all indicators presented in this Impact Report. Unless stated otherwise, indicators cover two financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25 (“the reporting period”). “Clients” include private-sector companies and, where relevant, industry associations, development finance institutions, NGOs and other organisations. Indicators are compiled at TBC group level and exclude subcontractors’ independent activities. Data sources 1. Commercial and project records, which include client identifiers, sector classification, project start/end dates, and invoiced revenue by client and year. 2. Client feedback obtained through our project close-out surveys, which includes a standardised questionnaire administered at, or shortly after, project completion. 3. Desk research into public sources of data, including client market capitalisation (for listed companies), production/consumption volumes for selected commodities, public commitments on biodiversity (e.g., no net loss / nature positive), and membership of sectoral “top 10”. 4. Scientific publication and policy guidance logs, including publicly available sources of peer-reviewed papers and their citation rates, and internal records of technical guidance and standards co-authored by TBC staff. Data quality, ethics and assumptions ● For “FY2023–25” indicators we use the union of clients active in either year, unless the indicator is explicitly year-specific. Percentages based on revenue are revenue- weighted averages across the two years unless otherwise stated. ● Where multiple clients were related legal entities within the same corporate group, we aggregated these records to the ultimate parent level for counts and market-cap analysis. ● Each client was assigned a single primary sector based on revenue and/or project scope at the time of engagement, although we recognise that often clients can be allocated to multiple sectors.
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● A client’s top-10 status was determined from reputable, public rankings (by revenue, production or assets) current in the relevant FY; private companies were included only where credible third-party rankings existed. Where we worked with clients across both years, we defaulted to FY23 results. ● Percentages are shown to the nearest whole percent; financial figures are rounded to the nearest USD million. ● Our client-level commercial data are confidential. All public-facing statistics reported here are aggregated and/or anonymised and all case studies and examples of named companies and used logos include client permission and support. ● Survey-based indicators are subject to response bias and small-sample effects; we report them primarily as directional evidence. ● Commodity share estimates carry measurement error due to a range of uncontrollable factors, including heterogeneous disclosures and differences in methodologies used to collect production and consumption statistics. ● Indicators are descriptive of our reach and influence; they are not claims of causal impact on the state of nature, although we do explain our hypothesised causal link.
Indicator definitions and calculations
1. Role and reach a. Share of revenue from ‘top-10’ clients. Across the two financial years, we calculated the share of invoiced revenue from clients ranked in the top 10 of their sector. b. Client market capitalisation and counts. For listed clients, market cap at FY-end was extracted from public sources and summed across unique parent companies. Non-listed clients were excluded from market-cap sums but included in client counts. 2. Supply-chain reach examples (bauxite and hazelnuts) These illustrative indicators link our client base to commodities with material biodiversity footprints.
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a. Bauxite production share For each mining client, we collated reported bauxite production (Mt/year) from public sources. We summed client volumes and divided by a global total to derive % of global supply associated with our clients. Global totals were taken from reputable public sources; where multiple figures existed, we selected the most conservative (highest denominator). b. Hazelnut consumption share For relevant clients, we extracted disclosed hazelnut use (tonnes) in public sources. We then summed client volumes and divided by a global production estimate to obtain % of global supply used by our clients. 3. Long-term client relationships and engagement length A “long-term relationship” is one where the elapsed time between the first client contract was signed more than 24 months prior to the relevant financial year. a. Revenue from long-term relationships For each financial year, we computed the share of TBC revenue invoiced to clients meeting the above definition. The two-year figure is a revenue-weighted mean of the two annual shares. b. Average engagement length (years) For all active clients in each financial year, we measured the time between first contract and current contract (to month resolution) and reported the mean (unweighted) in years. 4. Client ambition and commitments We compiled a cumulative count of TBC current and past private sector clients that have made public “No Net Loss,” “Net Gain,” “Net Positive,” or nature positive commitments. Sources included prior peer-reviewed syntheses (Rainey et al. 2014, de Silva et al. 2019, zu Ermgassen et al. 2022, Hawkins et al. 2025) and desktop verification of corporate reports and websites. We excluded entities for which such commitments are not applicable (e.g., industry associations). Each client was counted once, in the year the commitment was first made, meaning that our analysis does not capture scaling back of commitments. 5. Client satisfaction Client satisfaction statistics derive from project close-out surveys conducted during the reporting period. Response options are on a 5-point Likert scale; for reporting we aggregate “very satisfied” + “satisfied” and compute the percentage of respondents selecting these categories. We report n (number of respondents) alongside percentages. Where a client completed multiple projects in the period, each project survey was treated as a separate response.
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6. Thought leadership and scientific outputs a. Guidance/standards pieces
We counted publications where TBC was a named author/contributor and the output was released by an external body (e.g., IFC, TNFD, standard setters, industry associations). Minor reviews and informal consultations were excluded to avoid over-counting. Each distinct document/version within the period counts once. b. Peer-reviewed papers We counted the number of publications in peer reviewed academic journals carrying a TBC institutional affiliation for at least one author, published (online or in-print) during the reporting period (using calendar years, 2023 and 2024, rather than financial years). Conference abstracts and non-peer-reviewed white papers were excluded. This includes publications that were not financially supported by TBC; during the reporting period, 80% of 37 publications authored by TBC staff were not directly supported financially by TBC.
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