Earth observation data for biodiversity assessment

ESG reporting (Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting) and the EU Green Deal are crucial tools aimed at making Europe climate-neutral by 2050. ESG reporting involves transparent disclosure of companies’ environmental, social, and corporate governance practices. The EU Green Deal is a comprehensive action plan to make the EU economy sustainable by promoting innovations and investments in eco-friendly technologies and supporting the transition to a sustainable economy.

Both, ESG reporting and the EU Green Deal are interconnected. Transparent ESG reporting allows the progress of companies towards the Green Deal’s goals to be measured and evaluated. This helps investors, regulators, and society understand how companies align their operations to support ambitious sustainability and climate protection goals. Thus, ESG reporting acts as a bridge, connecting economic actors with the EU’s sustainable goals by providing a clear framework for responsible corporate governance and investments.

The aim of this research project is to use geo-specific environmental data to assess corporate risks in a test environment. This test environment, called BioDivER (an acronym for BioDiversity Environmental Reporting), is based on the latest satellite and GIS data. Analysis algorithms, which can be supported by machine learning (ML) and neural networks (NN), are used for spatial analyses and change detection. Additionally, georeferenced company locations are used in the test environment to show the relationship between ecosystem services and various production processes in the analysis. In a further phase, these relationships are evaluated and can thus be used by market participants to more effectively achieve the goals of the EU Green Deal and the SDGs.