Emma Elen FOURDAN’s Post

beefutures.io is introducing Onibi Base: connecting bees and environmental protection It can convert any classic beehive into a smart hive, without disturbing the bees. It transforms honey bees into environmental sentinels and highlights challenges faced by wild bees automatically. It provides beekeepers with insights to detect and prevent issues while optimizing production and operations. It controls Varroa, the primary threat to honey bees, keeping it at safe levels without chemicals. What does it mean for beekeeping and environmental protection? For beekeepers: Enhance existing hives with advanced features, elevating the care of bees without the need for a complete overhaul. For environmental protection: Monitor vast land areas across the globe, enabling precise actions to address ecosystem challenges, track progress, and ensure accountability. With 100 million beehives globally, just 10 million equipped with Onibi could monitor the entire planet. We've already covered 100,000 hectares, but we need your help to expand. Join us today! Who can benefit? Everyone—individuals, organizations, governments, and corporations—can participate. Corporations: Sponsoring an Onibi hive helps meet new standards like ESRS E4, TNFD, and GRI 101, enhancing ESG ratings and appeal to investors, customers, and partners. Governments: A powerful ally in achieving biodiversity targets. Food producers and farmers: Aid in regenerating farms and improving pollination efficiency. Major cities like Boston, Milan, and Helsinki have adopted the Onibi Base. Oslo locals, can you guess exactly where our latest installation is? Hint: It's right in the city center! Let us know in the comments! Another exciting feature will be unveiled next week—stay tuned! #BeeConservation #EnvironmentalTech #SmartAgriculture #Sustainability #Biodiversity  

📺BCA's webinar on Demand Side Tools for Integrity was held on Wednesday, July 17th. Our panellists discussed how businesses can engage with the biodiversity credit market while being in-line with the principles of integrity. Here are three key takeaways from the webinar: 1️⃣ Defining the use-case for biodiversity credits, and supporting due diligence: Peter Beare discussed how companies in WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development's network are genuinely interested in biodiversity credits, but there remains a need for clarity in the role of biodiversity credits in nature positive strategies. Mathieu Douziech from CDC Biodiversité shared their work on evaluating biodiversity standards, with the aim of ensuring robustness and integrity in biodiversity credit schemes. Alessandro Leonardi from Etifor | Valuing Nature highlighted their work supporting multiple companies interested in taking nature positive approaches, but raised the question of whether biodiversity credits can transcend localized use cases to become globally traded assets. 2️⃣Groups and networks for assessing the needs of businesses: Various groups and initiatives aim to support businesses as they explore the use of biodiversity credits and nature positive strategies. On a national level, CDC Biodiversité supports the French-based B4B+ Club, while Etifor's Italian Business@Biodiversity Working Group brings together businesses in Italy to gain greater clarity on how they can incorporate biodiversity. In Sweden, Ecogain's Business@Biodiversity Sweden brings together a wide range of businesses to share intelligence on biodiversity. Meanwhile, WBCSD's Beyond Value Chain Initiative engages with more than 95 companies on climate and biodiversity. 3️⃣Tools for measuring and valuing impacts and dependencies on nature: Anders Enetjärn from Ecogain presented the CLIMB methodology, which quantifies and values biodiversity. CLIMB's three key modules on present value calculation, impact calculation and offset investment calculation help to ensure that businesses can confidently assess their relationship with nature. Maria Alejandra Lizcano Solano also presented Etifor’s LUCAS approach, which aims to help businesses on their nature positive journey. Thank you to all panellists and participants for their enthusiastic engagement. We look forward to seeing you at our future events again! Links to the projects mentioned in the post: The French-based B4B+ Club, supported by CDC Biodiversité: https://lnkd.in/dvtaAdsf Etifor's Italian Business@Biodiversity Working Group: https://lnkd.in/eza2FBjt LUCAS approach by Etifor: https://lnkd.in/gXPA-JKG Ecogain's Business@Biodiversity Sweden: https://lnkd.in/dE8fcEkn CLIMB methodology by Ecogain: https://lnkd.in/dwhkfEzc

For impact investors, regen farmers and ecological activists, sharing this smart piece by colleague Arne Hautekiet on the boom in biodiversity related startups and naturetech in general. Lots of take away from this piece including: 🐝 💰 🌳 Biodiversity is one of those ultra valuable ecosystem services that we don't really value! We take it for granted at the peril of our food supply, our clean water, nature-based medicines and so much more. 📈 🥅 Investment in biodiversity-related startups is soaring, especially as corporations, governments and financial institutions of all types set biodiversity and ecosystem restoration goals. 🧑🏻🔬🔬🦉But we are still in the first inning. Most investment is in monitoring (good because you cannot manage what you cannot measure). We need investment to evolve into rebuilding--ecosystem restoration, agroforestry, seed bombing. Also food and ag biodiversity is so far being neglected. 🌱🐞🌊There are success stories already, as well as companies whose mission ends up reinforcing biodiversity, including Aphea.Bio, Notpla, Beeflow, natcap , MicroHarvest cc: Astanor Matthew Sade Food Tank Leslie Kapin Marion Puissant Franco Bernard Pollack

Great reflection on biodiversity released by Astanor and written by Arne Hautekiet. It is increasingly clear that the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources are fundamental for ensuring the long-term viability and resilience of global agriculture and the food system. At the same time, we need biodiversity and nature for all activities, yet our current system is destroying them. This is reinforced by a study conducted by BCG, which shows that the food and beverage industry, including packaging, is accountable for approximately 50% of the total anthropogenic pressure on biodiversity. In addition, we live in a current food system in which no more than three crop species—rice, maize, and wheat—provide more than 50% of human caloric intake, and livestock accounts for over 60% of the biomass of all mammals, humans account for about 36%, leaving wildlife with merely around 4%. It is urgent that we change our food systems to a more sustainable/regenerative one in which we have businesses that grow with nature and take biodiversity into account. Happy to have such amazing funds as Astanor and many others leading this agenda and supporting innovations that have this potential in important areas such as regenerative agriculture technology. #biodiversity #regenerativeagriculture #foodsystems

🌿International Day for Biodiversity Protecting biodiversity is a vital element in the value chain of Orkla’s portfolio companies. We understand that healthy ecosystems are crucial to produce many raw materials, and the loss of biodiversity poses significant risks to the environment and thus also the operations of our portfolio companies. Our companies are dedicated to: 🍀 Reducing Pressure on Nature: Ensuring operations do not contribute to deforestation or the conversion of natural ecosystems. 🍀 Collaborating for Conservation: Working with partners and suppliers to foster increased biodiversity through innovative approaches. 🍀 Setting Clear Targets: Developing robust plans, policies, and actions aligned with Orkla’s sustainability ambitions. 🍀 Ensuring Certification: Achieving certifications for raw materials with high environmental risk. 🍀 Restoration and Regeneration: Actively restoring and regenerating nature in line with Science-based Target Network (SBTN) guidelines.   Orkla companies work with suppliers through certifications and other programs to promote a more sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Several Orkla companies also work actively to increase the proportion of plant-based food which require considerably less agricultural land than meat and dairy products and thus leave more space for natural areas. As a part of the biodiversity journey of our companies, we are proud to be part of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, BIOPATH collaboration project, alongside leading institutions such as Lund and Göteborg Universities. This initiative helps to understand nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities. We aim to set meaningful targets and prepare for comprehensive biodiversity and ecosystem reporting. #BiodiversityDay #Sustainability #EnvironmentalProtection #Orkla #Biodiversity #SBTN #TNFD #ZeroDeforestation #BusinessSustainability #EcosystemRestoration #BIOPATH

🌿 What’s behind the decision to plant one hundred nectar-rich trees and install two high-tech beehives? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗰 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀! Just a few kilometers from Verona, nestled in the beautiful hills of Tregnago and surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, this oasis was created to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary. It’s our gift to Comac and to nature, a tangible gesture of gratitude and respect. Together with 3Bee, a nature tech company that develops technologies for monitoring, protecting, and regenerating biodiversity, we have established this space dedicated to preserving local biodiversity and supporting pollinating insects. The trees provide a continuous source of nectar, essential for the survival of bees, while the hives offer a safe haven for them to live and thrive. This project marks a concrete commitment from Comac, which began last February with the planting of 100 nectar-rich trees, followed by the installation of two biomonitoring hives. The nectar-rich plants are cared for by 3Bee’s growers: professional farmers skilled in plant protection and care. The Comac Biodiversity Oasis is 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆, symbolizing our ongoing commitment to a better future. We don’t just innovate in professional cleaning machines; we integrate sustainability into every aspect of our business. Thanks to a scientific partner like 3Bee, we are taking concrete action to protect and regenerate local biodiversity, with the goal of progressively involving collaborators, customers, and stakeholders. 👉 Click here to discover the Comac Biodiversity Oasis and the positive impact it’s having on our region: https://lnkd.in/djdvCk22 ✅ Read the post on The Comac Blog to learn more about the project: https://lnkd.in/d8Tm6_m8 #comacprofessionalpeople #comac4biodiversity #biodiversity #comac #3bee #sustainability

More than 50 companies have conducted assessments of their biodiversity footprint across their value chains in the past few years! Measuring impacts is a key step in the journey to avoid & reduce those impacts and to move towards a Nature Positive world so I hope this movement accelerates further in 2024 and beyond!   CDC Biodiversité released the list of 55 assessments (including full-scale assessments and sector-level materiality screenings) this week, ahead of an event launching its latest report in early February.   The sectors assessed includes: 🥩 Agriculture and agrifood 🏢 Building 🔌 Energy utility 🚗 Manufacturing 🛢 Raw material extraction 🏪 Retail   We are starting to see companies replicating assessments over time, to refine initial evaluations and monitor progress: Schneider Electric conducted a second evaluation in 2023, after a first in 2020. Decathlon is basically monitoring its impact yearly.   50+ companies is at the same time great and a very low number compared to the number of companies which should assess their impacts. The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) surveyed 350 companies from the food & agriculture and 30 from the paper & forest industries and only 2% had assessed their impacts on nature.   Initiatives such as the engagement work of the WBA, the It’s now for nature campaign of Business for Nature, and of course disclosure frameworks (#CSRD, #TNFD, #GRI) and target-setting framework (#SBTN) should speed up the measurement of biodiversity impacts.   And of course other companies have conducted biodiversity footprint assessments over their whole value chain using other tools than the GBS, but I haven’t seen any comprehensive list of such assessments. ❔ If you know any other assessments or list, or if you conducted one not in the list, please do share it in comments! It would be good to get a more comprehensive picture of the number of companies assessing their impact each year.

🌿 Exploring the Biodiversity Boom! 🌿 We're excited to share our latest deep dive on biodiversity, written by Arne Hautekiet, Investment Associate at Astanor. In "The Biodiversity Boom: Navigating Through a New Landscape of Biodiversity Startups," Arne explores the intricate relationship between agriculture, food production, and biodiversity. As one of the six impact KPIs in our impact framework, biodiversity has always been deeply rooted in Astanor’s philosophy 🌍 The comprehensive analysis underscores the urgency and potential of investing in biodiversity to ensure the long-term viability and resilience of our global food system. Dive into the full article on Medium to learn more about the unfolding landscape of innovative startups tackling biodiversity challenges and what this means for the future of sustainable agriculture. 🌱🔍 https://lnkd.in/evTx2v6X

☘ Biodiversity Credit Archetypes 🌟 The International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) has recently published its analysis report on the Consultation on Archetypes. The IAPB report outlines 6 distinct archetypes for biodiversity credit markets, each driven by different motivations and goals: - Voluntary Insetting: Corporations integrate biodiversity credits within their own value chains. - Voluntary Offsetting: Companies voluntarily purchase credits to balance their biodiversity impacts. - Regulatory-Driven CSR: Compliance with regulations through Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. - Compliance Offsetting: Mandatory credit purchases to meet regulatory requirements. - Corporate Voluntary CSR Contributions: Companies voluntarily contribute to biodiversity projects beyond regulatory demands. - Bundled Consumer Products/Services: Offering products or services that include contributions to biodiversity. The report outlines a comprehensive framework that reveals significant opportunities for achieving closer synthesis between various biodiversity credit schemes. Next stage - Aligning around common standards, governance structures, and market mechanisms will be critical to harmonize these models. This alignment will support the scalability and integrity of biodiversity credit markets, enabling them to effectively contribute to ecological, social, and financial goals. For example : Compensation models, which focus on addressing biodiversity impacts, can be synthesized with contribution models that aim for positive nature improvements beyond operational impacts. Another example : Harmonizing these models could involve developing common standards for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) that apply across both compensation and contribution frameworks. Compensation Frameworks: Purpose: To mitigate or offset negative biodiversity impacts caused by a company’s activities. Mechanism: Companies buy or create biodiversity credits to balance their environmental footprint, aiming for no net loss or net gain in biodiversity. Application: Used when companies must offset their operational impacts, often driven by regulatory requirements. Contribution Frameworks: Purpose: To proactively enhance or conserve biodiversity through voluntary actions, not necessarily linked to mitigating direct impacts. Mechanism: Companies invest in or support biodiversity projects as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) or voluntary commitments. Application: Applied to create net positive impacts on biodiversity, usually without regulatory obligations. #biodiversity #mrv #vcm #biodiversitycredits #carbonoffsets #corporatesustainability

Some of you may have already spotted the press on our landmark project with the Dunsany Estate in Co. Meath and Irish clean-tech company BIONUA which sees Coffeeangel commit 5% of our profits over the next 5 years to the purchase of biodiversity credits. This is the first time such a deal has been completed in Ireland and only the second time across Europe (after Swedbank’s purchase of biodiversity credits in 2023). There are quite a few moving parts to this project and some pretty incredible technology employed. But at times I find it a little tricky to fully and concisely articulate the 'how and why' both Caroline Sleiman and myself are so very proud and excited about his project! We have had a long-standing commitment to sustainability and spent years working hard on reducing Coffeeangel's carbon impact. Whether powering all our shops with renewable energy (via Pinergy), using locally produced, eco-friendly packaging, purchasing energy efficient equipment, managing waste, recycling or our #YourCupOurFuture program. But even with all these initiatives, we are aware that this will simply never be enough to offset our impact. What thrills us so much about this deal is Coffeeangel's financial commitment - in it's first year - will represent the removal and storage of a minimum of 80,000kgs of carbon from the atmosphere at Dunsany Nature Reserve, help re-wilding and enhance LOCAL biodiversity. And this data-backed sequestering of carbon will continue and grow each year. On a personal level, I loath box-ticking. I believe in taking full ownership, responsibility and action. Punitive taxes and unwieldy poorly targeted government policy are not the answer. Reducing Coffeeangel's impact may not be easy or FOC (free of charge), but the results do need to be tangible, verifiable and credible. Any initiatives a business like our's take should be positive, local and sustainable. Irish farmers are being asked to reduce total emissions by 22-30% by 2030. Could the potential of re-wilding land be a more palatable, equitable and sustainable if local businesses with carbon-positive aspirations (like Coffeeangel) were willing consider offsetting farmer's potential financial loss via the purchase of biodiversity credits? FYI this financial commitment is challenging (especially given the other issues our industry are facing). But some of the cost of this initiative has been part of Coffeeangel's P&L for many years through other sustainability projects like #YourCupOurFuture with Friends of the Earth IRE. Of course, not every business can manage this kind of cost in the current economic climate. But others may be able to. And I would encourage those who can to do so... K. #smallbusiness #irishbusiness #biodiversity #carboncapture https://lnkd.in/eXuT-4E2