Management of biodiversity impacts

Disclosure focus

Disclosure 101-2 requires an organization to describe the actions it takes to manage its most significant impacts on biodiversity at its sites and in relation to products and services in its supply chain. These impacts are identified under Disclosure 101-4, while the relevant sites are reported under Disclosure 101-5. The organization should also report actions taken to manage impacts downstream in its value chain, where applicable.

The organization must explain how it applies the mitigation hierarchy by describing actions taken to avoid negative impacts, minimize impacts that could not be avoided, restore and rehabilitate affected ecosystems, and offset residual negative impacts. It must also describe transformative actions and additional conservation actions. These categories should be kept distinct: restoration and rehabilitation address ecosystems affected by the organization’s activities; offsets address residual impacts through interventions in other areas; and additional conservation actions create positive impacts beyond the management of the organization’s own negative impacts.

For each site with the most significant impacts on biodiversity, the organization must report the area under restoration or rehabilitation and the area restored or rehabilitated, in hectares. It must also list which of these sites have a biodiversity management plan and explain why the other sites do not.

For each biodiversity offset, the organization must report its goal and geographic location, whether and how principles of good offset practice are met, and whether and how the offset is certified or verified by a third party. The disclosure does not require every offset to meet good-practice principles or to be externally certified, but it requires transparent reporting of the actual position.

The organization must also describe how it enhances synergies and reduces trade-offs between biodiversity and climate actions, and how it ensures that its biodiversity actions avoid and minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts for stakeholders. Where no process exists to enhance synergies or reduce trade-offs, a brief statement of this fact is sufficient.

The disclosure should be prepared together with Disclosure 3-3 and should reflect the sites and supply-chain products and services identified under Disclosures 101-4 and 101-5. Requirements and official Guidance should be distinguished clearly from additional LRA preparation recommendations.

This LRA educational guidance supports disclosure preparation. For the exact requirements, always refer to the official Global Reporting Initiative source.