Question 1

What spend-based impact factors ("nature impact factors") are available?

Accepted Answer

Alongside the GHG emission factors, XIO offers spend-based impact factors (often called nature impact factors), built the same way and in the same format, but for non-carbon environmental impacts. Multiply your spend in a sector by the factor to estimate the impact embodied in it, across the whole supply chain. Category Unit What it counts Green water consumption m³/M€ Rain water held in the soil and taken up by plants Blue water consumption m³/M€ Surface and ground water taken and not returned to the same catchment Blue water withdrawal m³/M€ Surface and ground water taken, whether or not it is returned Capillary water consumption m³/M€ Ground water reaching the root zone without being pumped Scarcity-weighted blue water consumption m³ world-eq/M€ The same consumption, weighted by how scarce water is where it is used Land use km²/M€ Land occupied, broken down by land class Ecosystem quality 1e-9 Global PDF*year/M€ Species loss, as the potentially disappeared fraction of species Human health DALY/M€ Healthy life lost, in disability-adjusted life years Biodiveristy & ecosystem quality and human health are characterised using UNEP-GLAM, the UN Environment Programme's Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment indicators and methods. The calculations follow the same approach as the climate change and deforestation factors, but the quality assurance process is currently lighter. As a beta release, we very much encourage feedback. About the indicators included, on level of detail, classifications and any other points you want to bring up. Things to note: Scarcity-weighted water is a volume adjusted for local scarcity, reported in cubic metres world-equivalent. A scarcity-weighted figure cannot be compared with, or added to, an unweighted one; check the unit on the column to see which you have. Consumption and withdrawal are different questions. Withdrawal is what was taken from a water catchment; consumption is what was taken and not returned to the same catchment. They are separate categories, not two views of one number. Ecosystem quality does not add up the way other breakdowns do. Its three realm columns are fractions of three different species pools, so the total gives the three realms equal weight rather than summing them, and each column shows that realm's contribution to that total. Multiplying a column by three recovers that realm's own figure. Human health is the ordinary case: its four columns are four routes to one metric, so the total is their plain sum.

Question 2

Can I calculate water, land, biodiversity or material footprints with EXIOBASE?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Water (consumption, withdrawal and scarcity-weighted), land use, ecosystem quality and human health are available now as spend-based impact factors, currently as a beta (see what impact factors are available?), in the same ready-to-apply format as the GHG factors. The underlying EXIOBASE model carries further environmental accounts (materials, energy, and other biodiversity-related pressures) which we can turn into spend-based factors on request for a specific use case. Material footprints are in that second group: the account exists, but material-use factors are a bespoke build rather than something we currently publish. Tell us which impacts you need.

Question 3

Does EXIOBASE support TNFD or nature-related disclosure?

Accepted Answer

EXIOBASE is well suited as a screening layer for nature and environmental-pressure footprints (water, water scarcity, land use, ecosystem quality and human health) across the supply chain, the kind of input several nature-disclosure approaches (e.g. TNFD) draw on. These are available now as spend-based impact factors, currently as a beta (see what impact factors are available?); further accounts can be produced on request. EXIOBASE provides the underlying data; it does not certify disclosure compliance at this stage.

Questions, answered

Current release at a glance

Getting Started

Data Coverage & Structure

Choosing the Right Emission Factor

Beyond Carbon: Nature, Water & Other Impacts

Beyond Carbon: Nature, Water & Other Impacts