Methodology

Ecosystem Services

The connections between nature and business representing a benefit that nature provides to enable or facilitate economic activities. Definitions of all 25 ecosystem services, based on the UN SEEA - EA system, are available on the ENCORE website.

Domestic vs. Imported Value

Distinction is made between the domestic production of a country and its production further up the supply chain via imports. This is the distinction between Gross Value Added (GVA) and Imported Value Added (IVA).

Nature Dependencies

A country or sector's dependence on and use of natural capital and ecosystem services to function. Dependencies can be domestic or foreign to capture the mean dependency of domestic suppliers or foreign suppliers within a sector's upstream supply chain.

Economic Size

Domestic production and imports can both be easily visualised at sector and subsector level to provide information about their size. Understanding nature dependencies alongside economic size highlights the sectors most exposed at the national level.

Sectors

Nature dependencies are calculated for 163 Exiobase3 economic subsectors (based on NACE code, rev 1). These 163 subsectors are then grouped into 23 sectors based on the World Economic Forum Strategic Intelligence groupings.

Exposure

The degree to which a national economy or a specific industry relies on ecosystem services for its economic output. It is measured as the proportion of a country or industry’s economic production that is highly dependent on nature.