Objectives of the service
The Forest Biodiversity Index provides forest owners, forest industry, and stakeholders with comprehensive biodiversity analytics at granular levels. The service delivers quantitative biodiversity metrics, management recommendations, and compliance reporting capabilities to support EU regulatory requirements including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and EU Nature Restoration Law.
European forests face biodiversity challenges due to historical management practices emphasizing few fast-growing species in even-aged stands. This reduces ecosystem resilience and increases vulnerability to climate impacts, as demonstrated by extensive bark beetle damage in monoculture forests.
CollectiveCrunch has successfully validated the biodiversity monitoring solution, expanding from Finland to Sweden and the Baltic states. The technology has been proven through partnerships with major forestry companies, with demonstrated market demand from Swedish customers and established channel partnerships for scalable distribution.
Users and their needs
The solution serves validated user communities across Nordic and Baltic countries:
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Forest owners and investors seeking biodiversity risk assessment and climate resilience planning, with proven demand from major forestry enterprises across multiple Nordic countries
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Forest management companies requiring efficient tools for FSC/PEFC certification and conservation area identification, validated through partnerships with leading Nordic forest management organizations
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Government agencies and conservation programs needing cost-effective biodiversity monitoring for EU Nature Restoration Law compliance and funding program verification
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Financial institutions requiring biodiversity metrics for CSRD/SFDR reporting and nature-related risk assessment
Market validation confirms strong demand, with majority of approached companies expressing purchase interest. Users need standardized, cost-effective monitoring that replaces expensive field surveys, supports regulatory compliance, identifies conservation opportunities, and enables participation in emerging biodiversity credit markets. The solution addresses the recognized shortage of skilled forest planners in Sweden while providing data-driven biodiversity management capabilities.
Service/ system concept
The Forest Biodiversity Index operates as a proven Data-as-a-Service platform, processing Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and environmental datasets through machine learning algorithms to generate comprehensive forest biodiversity assessments. The system produces detailed forest inventories at 10×10 meter resolution, including species composition, structural diversity, deadwood detection, and habitat connectivity analysis.
The service delivers biodiversity metrics through a composite index (0-1 scale) with annual updates, management recommendations, and compliance reporting capabilities. Distribution occurs through established channel partnerships with forest management software vendors, enabling seamless integration into existing operational workflows via APIs.
The proven business model employs competitive per-hectare pricing with volume discounts encouraging larger commitments. Revenue partnerships with software vendors accelerate market penetration while reducing customer acquisition costs. The platform supports custom analytics for regulatory filings and biodiversity credit certification, creating additional revenue streams.
Commercial success is demonstrated through strong revenue growth and significant confirmed sales pipeline, with strategic partnerships including major international software providers for global expansion and established integrations with multiple forest management platforms across Nordic and Baltic markets.
Space Added Value
The solution leverages Copernicus Sentinel-2 optical satellite imagery as the primary data source, supplemented by Copernicus Land Monitoring datasets for forest cover and species classification. This space-based approach enables comprehensive biodiversity monitoring across vast forest areas with consistent 5-day revisit cycles, providing cost-effective scalability impossible with traditional field survey methods.
Satellite data enables proprietary innovations including remote deadwood detection—a critical biodiversity indicator typically requiring expensive ground surveys—using spectral and structural signatures in Sentinel-2 imagery enhanced with LiDAR data. The space-based approach supports annual biodiversity updates across millions of hectares at marginal cost, essential for serving the Pan-European market.
Compared to traditional forest inventory methods, space assets enable standardized, objective measurements across multiple countries with consistent methodology. This supports regulatory compliance requirements and reduces dependency on manual surveys that are expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to scale. The technology provides comprehensive spatial coverage including remote areas, supporting landscape-level biodiversity analysis and connectivity assessment that ground-based methods cannot achieve economically.
Current Status
The ESA Kick-Start project has been successfully completed, with CollectiveCrunch achieving commercial validation and market deployment across Nordic and Baltic countries. The company achieved strong revenue growth and secured significant confirmed sales pipeline, demonstrating robust market demand.
Key commercial achievements include partnerships with major forestry companies, validated customer interest from leading Swedish forestry organizations, and established channel partnerships with forest management software providers. The solution is operationally deployed through API integrations with leading platforms and strategic discussions with major international vendors are on-going.
Technical validation confirms accurate biodiversity assessments using Copernicus satellite data, with proven deadwood detection capabilities and expert-validated composite indices. The business model demonstrates scalability with Data-as-a-Service pricing and revenue-sharing partnerships, positioning for Pan-European expansion following the successful Northern European deployment.
