BioScope

BioScope is a free online tool that offers businesses and financial institutions a quick and straightforward assessment of the impacts on biodiversity that result from their supply chain or (financial) products. With over a thousand users all around the globe, BioScope assists businesses in answering a critical question: which commodities, investments, or (financial) products purchased or provided by my business require our attention if we aim to make a substantial contribution to biodiversity conservation?

The environmental impact calculations in BioScope are powered by the SimaPro calculation engine and results are calculated using the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) impact assessment method.

Why choose BioScope?

Actionable results

BioScope provides results that help you formulate meaningful actions to assess and reduce the impact of your business or (financial) products on biodiversity. It indicates the potential impact not only of the commodities you purchase but also of the upstream supply chain of these commodities.

Based on reliable data

BioScope makes use of Exiobase v 3.4, a monetary input-output database. You can choose inputs from 163 sectors in 44 countries and 5 rest-of-world regions, covering almost all global economic activities. BioScope uses the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method to translate this activity data into impacts on biodiversity.

Regionalized impacts

Local environmental conditions strongly influence the extent of impacts on biodiversity, so the inclusion of regionalized results is crucial. With ReCiPe 2016, we can calculate regionalized impact drivers for different indicators such as Ozone formation, Terrestrial acidification, Freshwater eutrophication and others.

The results obtained through BioScope can be visualized on a world map or retrieved as a table.

Biodiversity screening tool

BioScope gives an approximation of the biodiversity impact resulting from the commodities purchased or from investments made by businesses and financial institutions. The use of country-level data on economic activities and their impacts means that the confidence of the outcome is limited. For a complete impact assessment, subsequent steps remain necessary.

The results of this tool are meant for internal purposes only, as an initial screening on hotspots within your supply chain, and cannot be used for public communication. Please refer to the Methodology report for more information.

 

About the developer

BioScope has been developed by PRé SustainabilityArcadis and CODE, commissioned by Platform BEE (Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Economy); a collaboration between IUCN NL and VNO-NCW financed by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The 2022 update of Bioscope was funded by the Partnership Biodiversity Accounting Financials and PRé Sustainability.