Developing & piloting biodiversity footprinting & natural capital accounting via a 'beehive' of sectoral hubs, for sustainable transition to a circular EU bioeconomy

Project Information

CircHive

Grant agreement ID: 101082081

DOI

10.3030/101082081

EC signature date 12 October 2022

Start date 1 December 2022

End date 30 November 2027

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 9 013 661,50

EU contribution

€ 7 969 963,50

Coordinated by

LUONNONVARAKESKUS
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CircHive (Developing & piloting biodiversity footprinting & natural capital accounting via a 'beehive' of sectoral hubs, for sustainable transition to a circular EU bioeconomy)

Reporting period: 2024-06-01 to 2025-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The ultimate goal of CircHive is to mainstream the use of biodiversity footprinting (BF) and natural capital accounting (NCA) in an integrated approach through methods, models, and guidance developed, improved and piloted with case study partners.
CircHive aims to measure and integrate the value of nature into public and business decision making by:

1) improving data availability, accessibility, and harmonisation;
2) developing a standardized method for biodiversity footprinting (BF) and integrating it with natural capital accounting (NCA);
3) mainstreaming the use of BF and NCA in public and private decision making;
4) testing and improving the developed methods and models; and
5) building a wider community ‘BEEHive’ for peer support and exploitation of results.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

List of project deliverables submitted during the first 18 months of the project:
Report on existing biodiversity data & databases (D1.1)
Report synthesising landscape of approaches for biodiversity footprinting & natural capital accounting for private & public sectors (D2.1)
Review and recommendations for mainstreaming biodiversity in ESG (1st version) (D3.1)
Review and recommendations for mainstreaming of biodiversity in EU policy (1st version) (D3.4)
Biodiversity efforts already made in private and public sector, presentations in series of webinars (D4.1)
Standardization landscape (D5.4)

M31-M36:
WP2:
Input into the Deliverable 2.2. Decision Tree.
Supporting WP2/IUCN: linking LCA and NCA approaches by listing interrelated indicators.

WP3:
Elaboration of draft Sustainable Business Canvas for farmers and for food producer. Discussion and final version.
Coordinating the development of the ISO Technical Specification 18244 Food and Biodiversity:
Coordinating an international task force to further develop this draft. Comments on the draft have been received by
members of the International Working Group 4 - within others CircHive. So far, two meetings were organized to disuss
comments and decide on changes. The final draft will be ready for international consultation (DIS) by end of January 2026.
Elaborating a matix for the screening of certified Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and their requirements
on biodiversity. Starting with the screening

WP4:
Regular meetings with Pilot partners (Lacoste, Barilla, Ferrero)
Elaborating and discussing our recommendations for the Ferrero Biodiversity Management Plan
Lacoste: LCF links the results to boost the agroecology measures. LCF still proposes to use the BVI (Biodiversity Value Increment) method and presents the Ideal Framework for textile standards and company regulations as good basis for finding key indicators for companies monitoring.
Barilla: Several meetings with Barilla team on linking the best of LCA and NCA methods.
Selection and discussion of criteria to cluster the more than 2.000 producers of wheat for Barilla. Clustering is
important for realizing the LCA /NCA on representative farms. The results of these farms will be the basis to calculate
the BF of the whole supply chain level.
Three meetings with Ferrero to discuss our recommendations for the Ferrero Biodiversity Management Plan
for farms in Serbia. Input for Ferrero regarding description of biodiversity measures.

WP5:
Participation in the European Business for Nature Summit 23/24 of October in Helsinki. About 500 participants:
Presentation on Biodiversity Footprinting to Nestlé Germany Expert Board (3.7.2025)
Networking and providing information about Biodiversity Footprinting and CircHive. Minutes to CircHive partners.
Preparation on Basic Set of Biodiversity Criteria of Food for Biodiversity as input for BeeHive Webpage
Biodiversity Footprinting as a topic in training for auditors and accountants in Germany (3 modules; so far 20 persons trained virtually).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

No results yet.