D1.1│Biodiversity Databases

This report provides a comprehensive review of biodiversity-related databases and data sources relevant to biodiversity footprinting (BF), natural capital accounting (NCA), life-cycle assessment (LCA) and corporate sustainability reporting. Developed as part of the CircHive project, it establishes a common understanding of key biodiversity concepts, definitions, and accounting approaches while addressing the growing need for standardised biodiversity data to support business decision-making and regulatory requirements.

The report catalogs approximately 170 biodiversity databases, assessing their scope, accessibility, geographic coverage, data formats, methodologies and suitability for biodiversity and natural capital assessments. It organises findings across five main themes: ecosystem condition, ecosystem extent, ecosystem services, impact drivers and species data. For each category, it evaluates data availability, visualisation methods, access conditions and key limitations.

A major focus is identifying data gaps, inconsistencies and challenges related to data quality, spatial and temporal coverage and interoperability. The report highlights the need for harmonized, accessible and regularly updated biodiversity data to improve the accuracy and comparability of biodiversity footprinting and natural capital accounting methods. It concludes with recommendations to strengthen biodiversity data infrastructure and support the integration of nature-related metrics into business, policy and sustainability reporting frameworks.
 

Authors:

• Biotope: Daniel Kieling, Noémie Cappelle, Tatiana Novoa, Karim Thibault, Cédric Elleboode
• Denkstatt: Denitza Pavlova, Martin Georgiev
• LUKE: Erika Winquist, Janne Artell, Teppo Jylänki, Laura Lahtinen, Ira Bhattarai
• IUCN: Juha Siikamäki, Leander Raes, Matias Piaggio
• EFI: Georgy Safonov, Michael den Herder, Janne Järvikylä, Simo Varis
• UNFU: Orest Kiyko, Ihor Soloviy, Oksana Pelyukh, Vasyl Lavny
• RISE: Björn Ringselle, Karin Morell, Ulf Jennehag
• TBFC: Joel Houdet; LCF: Marion Hammerl

Contact: dkieling@gmail.com

Biotope, Denkstatt, LUKE, IUCN, EFI, UNFU, RISE, TBFC, LCF.

Citation: Kieling, D., Cappelle, N., Novoa, T., Thibault, K., Elleboode, C., Pavlova, D., Georgiev, M., Winquist, E., Artell, J., Jylänki, T., Lahtinen, L., Bhattarai, I., Siikamäki, J., Raes, L., Piaggio, M., Safonov, G., den Herder, M., Järvikylä, J., Varis, S., Kiyko, O., Soloviy, I., Pelyukh, O., Lavny, V., Ringselle, B., Morell, K., Jennehag, U., Houdet, J., & Hammerl, M. (2023). Descriptive report of the Biodiversity Databases. CircHive Horizon Europe.