Biodiversity as a project lever
Between 60% and 70% of soils in the European Union today are in poor health. On April 10, 2025, the European Commission, Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on the European Soil Resilience and Monitoring Directive. This text represents a regulatory turning point: for the first time, European soils are the subject of a common legal framework. But this turning point remains theoretical: the text proposes objectives without constraints, tools without methods, obligations without verifiability.At IRICE, we assert a simple position: there will be no soil policy without proof of ecological efficiency. And there can be no proof without reproducible, verifiable, transposable methods.
IntroductionChapter 1 - A historic but incomplete directive
The directive's stated ambition is clear: to achieve good soil health by 2050. To this end, it organizes :
- a common soil monitoring framework (with criteria, indicators, threshold values);
- a soil district approach defined by each state;
- a register of polluted and potentially contaminated sites;
- a digital portal on soil health.
The whole system is based on an architecture inspired by the Water Framework Directive.
But the text's limitations are immediately obvious.
Chapter 2 - A non-binding framework: excessive flexibility and uncertain implementation
Despite the recognition of soil as a non-renewable strategic resource, the text lacks strong obligations:
- no obligation to set a quantified trajectory for restoring degraded soils;
- no binding hierarchy of uses (agricultural, urban, land recycling) ;
- deletion of the common principles of sustainable soil management in the final version ;
- no direct link with the ZAN objective (zero net artificialisation) or with the ESG taxonomy.
Each member state retains maximum latitude in interpreting diagnoses, choosing indicators and building policies. In so doing, the risk of inaction or fragmentation of national policies remains.
Chapter 3 - Structural requirements: a functional, neutral and interoperable measurement method
What the directive doesn't say is how to really measure soil health, how to assess dynamics, and on what basis to prioritize uses.
Today, soil data are :
- discontinued (hedging and discounting differences),
- too large (16 km squares, 1/250000 scale mapping),
- exclusively rural (few urban or project indicators).
A tool capable of :
- assess the ecological functions of soil (filtration, storage, biodiversity, cohabitation),
- objectify the regeneration value of an urban project,
- support ZAN, ZEN or low-carbon trade-offs.
In short: a soil ecological performance indicator, by project, by site, by territory.
Chapter 4 - IRICE and Effinature: a methodological response already available
Since 2023, IRICE has been offering the Biodiversity Performance Score (BPS), a rigorous ecological performance assessment tool, backed by Effinature certification.
Applied to soil, this means :
- an assessment based on four ecological functions: filtration, cohabitation, resilience and biodiversity,
- a scientific, independent, verifiable method, audited by a third party,
- a reproducible rating, compatible with ESG traceability requirements,
- a capacity to feed the ZAN trajectory and land renaturation arbitrations.
The BPS does not replace the directive. It makes it operable.
Chapter 5 - How can territories be implemented?
Local authorities, developers, landowners and environmental operators can now :
- integrate BPS assessment into their land or property strategy,
- justify desilting or requalification efforts with quantified, comparable proof,
- anticipate the ramp-up of the directive with elements already standardized,
- ZAN strategy, PADD or CSR reporting.
The directive sets the course. The BPS provides the compass.
Conclusion - Don't wait for obligation to structure action
The April 10 agreement is an important political step. But it will only have an impact if players like IRICE ensure its operational translation.
What we're proposing is not an overlay: it's the missing foundation. A tool for measuring, comparing and acting. A framework for moving from words to evidence.