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NAT.B08.EB Improving Soil Health and Agrobiodiversity Evidence
Does the company provide quantitative evidence on improving soil health and/or agrobiodiversity in its production and/or sourcing practices?
18114180
Researched

About the data

This metric was designed by The World Benchmarking Alliance, more information can be found here. Sources and Alignments for each indicator can be found here as well as the scoring guidelines here

The World Benchmarking Alliance's Nature Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to protect our environment and its biodiversity.

This metric relates to the Indicator: The company adopts practices that reduce soil degradation and improve soil health across the most material parts of its value chain.

Rationale: Over 40% of living organisms in terrestrial ecosystems associate directly with soils during their life cycle, making soils among the most important reservoirs of biodiversity (UNEP, BRS Conventions and Minamata Convention, 2021). However, current unsustainable agricultural practices and other business activities have led to the degradation of around one-third of the world's soil, resulting in significant negative impacts on biodiversity and soil health (TEEB, 2018). This indicator focuses on practices that reduce soil degradation and encourage regeneration in the system by improving soil health and agrobiodiversity.These include helping to tackle climate change, improving air and water quality and reducing the cost of accessing goods and services.

WBA analysed all publicly available group-level disclosure in English on the applicable group website, which was predominantly annual reports and sustainability reports. Draft assessments were then sent to each company inviting them to provide feedback. This feedback could include additional publicly available group disclosure published. These were then reviewed and finalised. Final assessments were then shared with each company before being published online.

For this metric see guidelines on soil health also but the company is using quantitative metrics, such as: soil health parameters, soil organic carbon, soil pH, species diversity (increase in the variety of plants, animals and microorganisms etc).

Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Not Applicable
Research Policy
Designer Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report