An update to the global Critical Habitat screening layer

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) defines Critical Habitat as areas of high biodiversity value in their Performance Standard 6 (PS6), requiring projects located in Critical Habitat to achieve a net gain of biodiversity. IFC's definition of Critical Habitat has since been frequently used by the finance sector and businesses to identify areas of high biodiversity value. Here we present an update to previous global screening layers of Critical Habitat in the marine and terrestrial realms, derived from global spatial datasets covering the distributions of 53 biodiversity features aligned with guidance provided by the IFC. As with previous layers, each biodiversity feature is categorised as 'Likely' or 'Potential' Critical Habitat based on: 1. Alignment between the biodiversity feature and the IFC Critical Habitat definition; and 2. Suitability of the spatial resolution for indicating a feature's presence on the ground. This analysis indicates that a total of 52.36 million sqkm (10%) and 16.54 million sqkm (3%) of the globe can be considered as Likely and Potential Critical Habitat respectively, while the remaining 441.2 million sqkm (87%) did not overlap with any of the biodiversity features assessed. This represents a significant increase to the 26.2 million sqkm (5%) and 10 million sqkm (2%) Likely and Potential Critical Habitat identified previously. Classification of Likely Critical Habitat was dominated by Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Intact Forest Landscapes, and protected areas; Potential Critical Habitat by Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) and ranges of species classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Our results can aid businesses to prioritise impact avoidance by screening potential development sites at an early project stage for biodiversity features.