1 min read
ENCORE (Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks and Exposure) is a classification system that rates business activities on their potential impacts and dependencies on nature, using a scale from Very Low to Very High.
ENCORE data is used in the Locate and Evaluate phases to screen for sites where business activities have significant potential interactions with nature.
Natcap uses ENCORE data to rate potential impacts and dependencies, helping us classify a site as ‘material’ if its business activities score High or Very High. Beyond these standard ratings, Natcap uses ENCORE activity definitions to set specific ‘buffer’ distances for biodiversity analysis, and to link activities to specific environmental threats, allowing for more precise, site-specific calculations.
Natcap gives more granular and precise insights about dependencies than ENCORE alone. Standard ENCORE ratings only indicate potential dependencies based on global industry average. Natcap, however, combines these classifications with specific site locations to provide a more granular assessment. For example, we use ENCORE activity definitions to determine the specific ‘buffer’ distances used to identify biodiversity-sensitive areas in the immediate vicinity of a site, tailoring the analysis to local conditions.
Additionally, Natcap also fills gaps in ENCORE. For example, for metrics like pollution, Natcap uses ENCORE codes to group industries, but then improves upon standard ENCORE scores with proprietary industry proxy scores, derived from actual historical emissions data, to provide a more granular and accurate concern score.
Natcap gives organisations more confidence that they have accurately assessed its nature-related dependencies. Natcap goes beyond generic industry averages, leveraging additional information a company has about its specific sites and what’s happening at them, to produce more granular, accurate and reliable insights for decision makers.
To see how Natcap can provide these granular, site-specific insights for your organisation and move beyond generic industry averages, request a demo or speak to an expert.
Sebastian Leape : 17 Jul, 2025
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