ISO 17298, a new international standard that changes the role of biodiversity in organizations
Biodiversity is no longer a peripheral topic: it is becoming a strategic pillar, alongside climate, energy, and artificialization. With the publication of ISO 17298 standard at the beginning of October, organizations — both public and private — now have an international framework to integrate biodiversity into their strategy, operations, and decisions.
And this standard goes well beyond the protection of living organisms. It concerns planning, infrastructure, data, risk management, planning, environmental accounting, reporting, and financing. These are areas that are already at the heart of Thinkcities®, which opens clear integration perspectives.
ISO 17298: what is it about?
ISO 17298 is the first international standard dedicated to biodiversity at the organizational level. It provides an operational framework for:
Identifying its impacts, dependencies, and risks related to biodiversity;
Prioritizing actions and intervention areas in or around the relevant sites;
Implementing a biodiversity action plan aligned with local issues;
Monitoring reliable indicators over time;
Adhering to international frameworks (Kunming-Montreal, CSRD, TNFD, SBTN…).
It addresses all types of stakeholders: companies, local authorities, planners, territories, funders, federations, NGOs, tourist operators, etc.
The goal is not to "do more," but to better integrate living entities into existing decisions:
Urban planning and development
Exploitation of sites and land
Risk management and resilience
Non-financial reporting
Relations with insurers and financiers
Ecological transition of organizations
Why this standard is becoming essential
Some figures are enough to understand the issue:
50% of the global GDP directly depends on biodiversity
Regulations on land use, water, buildings, pollution, and urban planning are progressively aligning with the “no net loss” objective
Economic actors are now expected to have measurable action plans, rather than mere commitments
With ISO 17298, stakeholders will need to:
🔹 Describe their footprint on living beings
🔹 Produce reliable indicators
🔹 Identify critical or vulnerable areas
🔹 Account for their actions and progress
🔹 Integrate biodiversity into projects and investments
This will mechanically create a need for geodecision-making tools, spatialized data, and territorial visualization.
Why Thinkcities® is already on the right track
Several existing features are directly aligned with the requirements of the standard:
1. Zero artificialization / mutable land
➡ Analysis of land use and potential for renaturation
2. Management of natural and climatic risks
➡ Protection of environments, prevention of vulnerabilities, ecological continuities
3. Territorial digital twin
➡ Ideal support for visualizing biodiversity issues, simulating impacts and integrating indicators
4. Consideration of local regulations and zoning
➡ PLUi, PPRN, ecological continuities
In summary: a standard that creates a new demand… and a strategic lever for UrbanThink
ISO 17298 does not impose a new reporting standard: it structures action and provides a clear framework for decision-makers, which accelerates the need for spatial data, decision-support tools, and platforms like Thinkcities.
UrbanThink can therefore position itself on three concrete axes:
Support the consistency of biodiversity data and indicators
Gradually integrate a dedicated module into the digital twin
Put biodiversity on the same level as climate, land, and risks
