Sweco has calculated the biodiversity footprint of its operations in Finland – the results highlight the specific nature impacts of knowledge work

Published: 19 March 2026

Sweco has carried out, for the first time, a comprehensive biodiversity footprint calculation for its operations in Finland. The calculation provides new and detailed information on how the company’s activities affect biodiversity and complements Sweco’s emissions accounting. The biodiversity footprint calculation helps to identify key areas where improvements to environmental impacts can be made: Sweco’s largest nature impact arises from purchased goods and services. The biodiversity footprint opens up a new perspective for measuring and managing the environmental responsibility of knowledge work.

“Measuring the biodiversity footprint alongside greenhouse gas emissions gives us a much more accurate picture of how our own operations impact the environment. The biodiversity footprint also helps us identify those impacts that do not show up in emissions accounting. With the results we can target measures specifically at the factors that most affect biodiversity. At the same time, this strengthens Sweco’s position as a forerunner in sustainability,” says Sweco’s Chief Sustainability Officer Iida Vakkuri.

Greatest nature impacts come from procurement and travel, 64% of impacts are driven by climate change and 32% by water consumption

Sweco’s biodiversity footprint for 2025 amounts to 9.4 × 10⁻⁸ PDF·yr. The PDF unit (Potentially Disappeared Fraction of species) describes the share of global species that are at risk of disappearing if activities continued unchanged. In other words, the result means that 0.0000094%, roughly one species out of the approximately 8 million species currently known, would be at risk of extinction.

“By calculating our own biodiversity footprint, we have made visible that knowledge work can also weaken biodiversity. The biodiversity footprint of a single engineering, architecture and consulting company may look small in absolute numbers, but what is essential is understanding what drives it up. That information is what guides us to target measures most effectively,” Vakkuri says.

Sweco’s biodiversity footprint calculation covered several different categories, including purchased goods and services, business travel, commuting between home and work, energy use in offices, fuel use in vehicles, direct water consumption and direct land use.

Key results:

• 72% of Sweco’s nature impacts arise from purchased goods and services, in particular IT software.

• 13% of the impacts are related to business travel.

• 9% of the impacts are generated by employee commuting.

• Energy use and fuel consumption also account for part of the impacts.

The calculation results also show which drivers of biodiversity loss the company’s activities affect the most. According to the calculation, 64% of Sweco’s nature impacts are linked to climate change. The second most significant driver is water consumption, which accounts for 32% of the total result and is particularly emphasised in the procurement of IT software. In addition, there are impacts from land use and pollution.

“The biodiversity footprint clearly shows that our climate work simultaneously supports strengthening biodiversity. Continuing to reduce emissions is therefore critical also for reducing nature impacts,” Vakkuri continues.

“However, I would like to emphasise that comparing results with other organisations that have calculated their ownbiodiversity footprint is still challenging. Calculation methods and boundaries are still evolving as biodiversity footprinting becomes more common – in the future it will certainly be easier to make comparisons between different organisations and sectors,” Vakkuri notes.

Further information:
Iida Vakkuri, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sweco, tel. +358 50 531 3765, iida.vakkuri@sweco.fi
Heini Jokinen, media contact, Sweco, tel. +358 40 718 0063, heini.jokinen@sweco.fi