In accordance with the Natural Capital Protocol (Natural Capital Coalition, 20161), impact drivers are defined as: a measurable quantity of a natural resource that is used as an input to production or a measurable non-product output of business activity.
The descriptions below are quoted directly from the Natural Capital Protocol. Through the literature reviews conducted as part of the research for ENCORE the following additional impact drivers were also identified for certain production processes and are yet to be included in the database underpinning the tool: biological alterations/interferences, positive impacts, socio-cultural impacts.
1Natural Capital Coalition, 2016. “Natural Capital Protocol”. (Online) Available at: www.naturalcapitalcoalition.org/protocol
Disturbances
Examples include decibels and duration of noise, lumens and duration of light, at site of impact.
Freshwater ecosystem use
Examples include area of wetland, ponds, lakes, streams, rivers or peatland necessary to provide ecosystem services such as water purification, fish spawning, areas of infrastructure necessary to use rivers and lakes such as bridges, dams, and flood barriers, etc.
GHG emissions
Examples include volume of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), Hydrofluorocarbons, (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs), etc.
Marine ecosystem use
Examples include area of aquaculture by type, area of seabed mining by type, etc.
Non-GHG air pollutants
Examples include volume of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM10), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), mono-nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2, commonly referred to as NOx), Sulphur dioxide (SO2), Carbon monoxide (CO), etc.
Other resource use
Examples include volume of mineral extracted, volume of wild-caught fish by species, number of wild-caught mammals by species, etc.
Soil pollutants
Examples include volume of waste matter discharged and retained in soil over a given period.
Solid waste
Examples include volume of waste by classification (i.e., nonhazardous, hazardous, and radioactive), by specific material constituents (e.g., lead, plastic), or by disposal method (e.g., landfill, incineration, recycling, specialist processing).
Terrestrial ecosystem use
Examples include area of agriculture by type, area of forest plantation by type, area of open cast mine by type, etc.
Water pollutants
Examples include volume discharged to receiving water body of nutrients (e.g., nitrates and phosphates) or other substances (e.g., heavy metals and chemicals).
Water use
Examples include volume of groundwater consumed, volume of surface water consumed, etc.