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By Dr Rhosanna Jenkins, Principal Scientist – Biodiversity
As sustainability reporting requirements ramp up, particularly under the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), many businesses are facing a new challenge: how to choose the right metrics for nature.
Unlike climate reporting, biodiversity can’t be accurately measured using a single standard unit, such as tonnes. It’s more complex, more local, and far less standardised. So how do you choose metrics that are fit for purpose and that stand up to scrutiny?
This article walks you through what makes a biodiversity metric effective, and how to select the right ones for your business.
First, it's key to understand that carbon is globally fungible. A tonne of CO₂ avoided in one place has the same climate benefit as a tonne avoided elsewhere. That’s why climate reporting tends to centre around universal units, like carbon credits. One carbon credit typically represents the equivalent of one metric tonne of CO2 avoided or removed.
Biodiversity doesn’t work that way.
Nature is place-based. Species, ecosystems, and ecological processes vary significantly from site to site and so do the pressures acting on them. You can’t offset a degraded forest in Indonesia with a healthy one in Italy, or the loss of elephants by better protecting dolphins.
That’s why biodiversity metrics must be location-specific, multi-dimensional, and sensitive to context. There is no single number that captures everything.
Over the years, many metrics have been developed to assess biodiversity. These span from species counts to habitat condition, ecosystem integrity to land-use change.
The most credible approaches—like those used in biodiversity credit schemes or recommended by TNFD—rely on multiple metrics to capture different aspects of nature. TNFD requires companies to go beyond evaluating the state of nature or biodiversity, to really establish how their activities are interacting with nature.
At Natcap, we typically use between 5 and 25 metrics per project, depending on what’s most relevant for the organisation, geography, and regulatory requirements.
So how do we decide on a metric?
Not all metrics are created equal. When choosing yours, look for those that meet as many of the following criteria as possible:
1. Repeatable
You should be able to measure the metric consistently over time and across different locations. This makes it easier to track progress and compare sites.
2. Measurable
Metrics should be quantifiable, with a defined unit and methodology. They should also be practical to implement.
3. Data-Driven
Reliable metrics are underpinned by evidence, modelling, or robust field data, not opinion or assumption.
4. Easily Interpretable
Stakeholders should be able to understand what the metric means and what it tells you about nature.
5. Predictable
When you take an action, like restoring a habitat, the metric should respond in a logical way. This helps link metrics to outcomes and target-setting.
6. Robust
The metric should resist manipulation. Gamifying or cherry-picking results erodes trust and credibility.
7. Sensitive to Change
A good metric detects real, meaningful change, without being swamped by noise or variability.
To show what this looks like in practice, here’s one of our go-to metrics: Percentage of Natural Land Cover.
✅ Repeatable – Based on satellite imagery that revisits the same location regularly
✅ Measurable – Calculates the share of a site covered by natural ecosystems (vs. developed or agricultural land)
✅ Data-Driven – Built from validated, high-resolution models
✅ Interpretable – Expressed as a simple percentage
✅ Predictable – If you restore habitat, the metric goes up
✅ Robust – Based on real-world land cover, not self-reported data
✅ Sensitive – Picks up even small-scale land use changes
This is just one of the many metrics we use, but it demonstrates how each of the seven qualities can come together in a single, credible indicator. It’s worth noting that even though the Land Cover metric is extremely useful, it still can't tell you anything about the quality of the natural land on the site, or the types of species living there. This is why you need complementary metrics on habitat condition and species.
Nature reporting is only going to grow in importance and complexity. The organisations that start building capability now will be the ones best prepared for what's ahead.
At Natcap, we help businesses and financial institutions cut through the noise. Our team of scientists, academics, and advisors support you to choose, apply, and interpret the metrics that matter, so you can report confidently, reduce risks, and identify new opportunities.
Need help choosing the right biodiversity metrics?
We’d love to support your nature strategy.
📩 info@natcapresearch.com
Identify where you should prioritise your efforts, understand your nature impacts and dependencies, disclose to stakeholders and take action.
See how it works...
