Biodiversity impact assessment using the Biodiversity Footprint Family Framework

Increasing consumption and international trade have contributed to an unprecedented decline in biodiversity worldwide. The Netherlands has committed to reducing the biodiversity impacts of its consumption and aims to halve its ecological footprint (EFP) by 2050. However, the EFP primarily reflects pressures on global biocapacity and does not quantify biodiversity impacts or their drivers, limiting its usefulness for designing and evaluating biodiversity policy. To address this gap, we introduce the Biodiversity Footprint Family Framework (B-FFF), a driver-based structuring framework for biodiversity assessment rather than a new life-cycle impact assessment method. The B-FFF builds on existing footprint accounting and biodiversity characterisation approaches to organise pressure indicators and biodiversity impacts into a transparent size-depth structure. The B-FFF distinguishes between footprint size, which reflects the magnitude and location of environmental pressures, and footprint depth, which reflects the biodiversity impact associated with those pressures. Central to the B-FFF is the biodiversity footprint (FP), which connects consumption, production, and trade to the environmental pressures and biodiversity impacts they generate. The framework is conceptually aligned with the direct drivers of biodiversity loss recognised by the IPBES. In the present sugar case study for the Netherlands, it operationalises only the subset that is both relevant and currently quantifiable for the sugar supply chain: land-use change, climate change, nutrient-related pollution, and water stress, through a biodiversity footprint supported by pressure-oriented footprints for land, carbon, water, and nutrients. Chemical pollution, invasive alien species, and direct exploitation are not quantified in this application. Compared to standard aggregated LCA reporting, the B-FFF helps identify which drivers dominate, where biodiversity impacts occur geographically, and how footprint size and biodiversity impact depth can diverge. The case study for Dutch sugar consumption shows that land-use impacts in some exporting countries dominate the biodiversity FP. The Netherlands shows the largest total FP (size), while several supplying countries show higher impact intensity per unit of supply (depth). Scenario analysis indicates that higher yields and reduced sugar intake can lower the biodiversity FP, while sourcing all sugar domestically reduces global impacts but concentrates remaining pressures within the Netherlands. The framework provides a policy-relevant basis for assessing and mitigating consumption-driven biodiversity loss across scales. • Introduces the Biodiversity Footprint Family Framework (B-FFF) • Links pressure footprints to biodiversity impact and separates size and depth • Applies B-FFF to Dutch sugar consumption and global supply chains • Identifies hotspots where small imports drive high biodiversity impact depth • Supports scenario comparison for consumption-based biodiversity targets