Why biodiversity is a material issue One area where expectations are rising is biodiversity and nature. In its latest double materiality assessment, Odfjell initially found biodiversity“ just below the line” of materiality. Under ESRS rules, that meant the company did not have to report on the topic.

Since then, Odfjell has revisited its analysis. It has conducted peer reviews with other shipping companies and consulted stakeholders on their priorities.“ We saw that the attention and interest in biodiversity was increasing,” Øistein reveals. In the updated assessment, biodiversity moved above the materiality threshold, and Odfjell has now begun reporting on it. The company is using the LEAP methodology, a structured framework, to assess its impacts.

“ For a shipping company, it’ s related to underwater noise, potential spills, mammal strikes and everything we can emit into the sea,” he explains. Science in this field remains nascent, and many impacts are hard to quantify.“ We don’ t know exactly how many whales we risk hitting, or what underwater noise is causing,” Øistein admits.

Nonetheless, he expects regulation and expectations on nature to increase significantly over time.“ So we are trying to understand this and identify the potential,” he says.“ We know a lot within climate, but within biodiversity there is much more that we don’ t know.”

For now, Odfjell is laying foundations for more comprehensive nature-related work in future.

Øistein Jensen CSO Odfjell

62 May 2026