Ecosystem services

Disclosure focus

Disclosure 101-8 requires an organization to report ecosystem services and beneficiaries affected or potentially affected by the activities carried out at each site reported under Disclosure 101-5-a. The organization should use the same approved site list and should not apply a new materiality threshold or create a separate shortlist for this disclosure.

For each site, the organization must list the relevant ecosystem services and their beneficiaries and explain how the services and beneficiaries are or could be affected by the organization’s activities. The explanation should distinguish actual from potential effects, positive from negative effects, and changes in the quality or quantity of the ecosystem service.

Ecosystem services should be classified as provisioning services, regulating and maintenance services, or cultural services. Ecosystem functions should not automatically be presented as ecosystem services: the organization should explain the benefit provided and identify the people, communities or organizations receiving that benefit. Beneficiaries can include Indigenous Peoples, local communities, other organizations and the reporting organization itself. Species and wildlife are affected biodiversity components rather than beneficiaries for the purposes of this disclosure.

Where the reporting organization depends on an ecosystem service, it can identify itself as a beneficiary. However, a general dependency or nature-related risk assessment does not replace the requirement to explain how the organization’s activities affect or could affect the service and its beneficiaries.

The organization should describe the approach used to identify ecosystem services and beneficiaries, including the tools, data sources, assumptions and stakeholder engagement used. Relevant tools can include ENCORE, the Natural Capital Protocol, TNFD LEAP, the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting — Ecosystem Accounting and the WRI Corporate Ecosystem Services Review.

The organization should additionally report ecosystem services and beneficiaries affected by supplier activities for each product and service reported under Disclosure 101-5-d, with a breakdown by country or jurisdiction. Information on downstream entities can also be reported where available. These value-chain elements are Guidance and should be distinguished from the mandatory site-level requirements.

Where required information cannot be reported because it is unavailable or incomplete, legally prohibited or subject to confidentiality constraints, the organization should apply the relevant reason for omission in accordance with GRI 1 rather than silently excluding sites, services or beneficiaries.

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