Nature footprint methodology
The nature footprint is a transaction-level estimate of biodiversity impact, expressed in Mean Species Abundance (MSA). This page explains how it's calculated and what it does and doesn't measure. For how it compares with the carbon footprint and which to use, see Footprinting.
Who this page is for
This is a methodology overview for product and integration teams. For how to surface the nature footprint in a checkout, see Checkout SDK.
What the nature footprint measures
The nature footprint estimates the biodiversity impact of a transaction and expresses it as an area of intact nature lost, in square metres or square feet depending on the consumer's locale. A higher value means a greater reduction in nature intactness. The Checkout SDK can show this as a tangible comparison, for example the size of a parking space or a swimming pool.
Two transactions with the same carbon footprint can have very different biodiversity impacts, so nature adds a dimension that carbon alone can't show.
The methodology was developed with Nature Positive and is aligned with CDC Biodiversité's Global Biodiversity Score, an established biodiversity accounting framework. For the consumer-facing product, see ekko.earth/nature.
How it's calculated
The nature footprint is a spend-based estimate. It uses three inputs:
- the Merchant Category Code (MCC) of the transaction
- the country where the transaction took place
- the transaction amount
Each MCC is mapped to an industry in EXIOBASE, an environmental-economic database that links spending to environmental pressures across a supply chain. Pressure-response models from the GLOBIO framework then translate that spend into an expected loss of species abundance, producing the MSA value for the transaction.
Because it works at transaction level, the nature footprint is an indication of the impact typical of the merchant's sector and country. It is not a precise product-level measurement.
Country coverage
The nature footprint covers all countries. Country-specific data is strongest in Europe. Where a country doesn't have its own dataset, the model uses a regional (rest-of-world) average, so every transaction still returns a footprint.
The four impact categories
The nature footprint groups eleven underlying pressure points into four categories. The API uses the names on the left, the consumer-facing labels are on the right.
| API name | Consumer label |
|---|---|
climateStress | Climate Stress |
pollution | Pollution |
landUse | Land Use |
freshwaterUse | Water Use |
The category with the largest impact for a transaction is its dominant pressure, returned in the quote as dominantTransactionPressure.
Water Use scope
The Water Use category covers freshwater pressures only. Marine impacts are not yet captured.
The eleven pressure points
The four categories aggregate eleven pressure points, drawn from the Global Biodiversity Score and delivered in the Nature Positive factor file. Land use in river and wetland catchments arrives as a single combined value.
| Category | Pressure points |
|---|---|
| Climate Stress | Climate change |
| Pollution | Atmospheric nitrogen deposition, metal ecotoxicity, organic ecotoxicity, freshwater eutrophication |
| Land Use | Encroachment, fragmentation, land use |
| Water Use | Hydrological disturbance from direct water use, land use in river and wetland catchments, wetland conversion |
When responseOptions.includePressurePoints is set on the quote, the API returns all eleven values individually. Otherwise it returns the four category totals.
Units
MSA is reported in both square metres (msaM2) and square feet (msaFt2). Square metres is the canonical methodology unit. The Checkout SDK picks which unit to display based on the consumer's locale.
Taking action
Alongside the footprint, the API returns impact partners whose projects a consumer can contribute to. Contributions fund verified environmental projects run by ekko's impact partners. They aren't tied to the exact biodiversity impact of a single transaction, they support broader nature outcomes.
See Impact partners and projects for the organisations involved.