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Biodiversity has ceased to be a peripheral environmental concept and has become a strategic factor for risk management, resilience and value creation for organizations. In this context, the publication of ISO 17298:2025 – Biodiversity for Organizations marks a turning point in the way companies, public administrations and other entities must address their relationship with nature. It is the first specific international standard designed to help organizations integrate biodiversity into their strategy, governance and operations, providing a common, structured and scalable framework.
ISO 17298 is an ISO standard that provides guidelines and requirements enabling organizations to:
Assess their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity.
Identify nature-related risks and opportunities.
Define and implement biodiversity action plans.
Establish monitoring indicators and continuous improvement mechanisms.
Integrate biodiversity into risk management, decision-making and corporate strategy.
The standard is applicable to all types of organizations, regardless of size or sector, and is designed to integrate with other widely used frameworks such as ISO 14001, ISO 26000, TNFD, SDGs and future European sustainability reporting requirements.
One of the main contributions of ISO 17298 is that it moves biodiversity from the reporting sphere to the core of organizational management. It does not merely require disclosure, but establishes a systematic process covering:
Context and scope of the biodiversity approach.
Stakeholder engagement.
Identification and prioritization of impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities.
Formalization of an action plan.
Implementation, monitoring, communication and continuous improvement.
This approach enables organizations to move from ambition to action, providing a common language and comparable criteria.
1. Define scope and context
The geographical, operational and value chain scope.
Relevant activities, products and services.
The relationship with ecosystems and ecosystem services.
2. Identify impacts and dependencies
How the organization impacts biodiversity (directly and indirectly).
Which ecosystem services it depends on to operate (water, soil, pollination, climate regulation, landscape, etc.).
3. Assess risks and opportunities
Physical, operational, regulatory and reputational risks associated with biodiversity loss.
Opportunities linked to regenerative models, green finance and improved resilience.
4. Engage stakeholders
Identify internal and external stakeholders.
Document how their expectations and contributions have been considered.
Integrate this dialogue into the definition of objectives and actions.
5. Formalize a biodiversity action plan
Clear objectives consistent with the local context.
Concrete and prioritized actions.
Measurable indicators.
Integration with the organization’s overall strategy.
6. Communicate and monitor
Internal and external communication of results.
Periodic monitoring of indicators.
Review and continuous improvement of the adopted approach.
The documentation associated with ISO 17298 highlights a key message: biodiversity is an economic asset. Ecosystem degradation increases costs, disrupts supply chains and generates financial and legal risks. Conversely, integrating biodiversity:
Strengthens ESG credibility.
Improves access to nature-aligned finance.
Increases operational and territorial resilience.
Enables anticipation of future European regulatory requirements.
ISO 17298 aligns directly with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 15 on corporate action, and acts as a methodological bridge between international frameworks and European requirements on sustainability, double materiality and nature-related risk management.
ISO 17298 inaugurates a new stage in biodiversity governance. For organizations, it means moving from considering nature as an externality to managing it as a key factor for long-term viability, competitiveness and value creation.
Adopting this standard is not only a matter of future compliance, but a strategic decision to anticipate change, differentiate and build more resilient, responsible economic models aligned with the planet’s limits.
