The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has introduced ISO 17298: Biodiversity for organisations – Guidelines and Requirements, the world’s first international standard aimed at helping companies and institutions globally assess their impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities related to biodiversity. Launched at ISO’s Annual Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda on 7 October 2025, it offers a practical and scalable framework designed to embed biodiversity into governance, strategy and operations, not just sustainability reporting. It also aligns with other major frameworks such as ISO 14001, ISO 26000, the Task­force on Nature‑related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, especially Target 15 on corporate action.

The standard is developed by ISO’s Technical Committee 331 on Biodiversity, involving experts from over 60 countries, and is intended for organisations of all sizes, sectors and regions – from SMEs and public institutions to large corporates. It aims to facilitate credible, comparable biodiversity data, enhance transparency and accountability, and unlock access to nature-positive finance and markets. ISO also indicated that ISO 17298 is just the start of a broader suite of biodiversity standards in development, covering vocabulary, biodiversity net gain and product characterisation based on native species.