This use case develops an assessment tool for evaluating trade-offs between economic activities and ecosystem services. By integrating remote sensing, AI-based models, and socioeconomic data, NECST enables evidence-based policy recommendations for sustainable land and resource use.
The SAGE (Sustainable Green Europe Data Space) project targets the four strategic pillars in the European Green Deal— Zero Pollution, Climate Adaptation, Biodiversity, and the Circular Economy Action Plan, by implementing a rich portfolio of use cases in each of them.
The project demonstrates a total of 10 pilot use cases to foster data-driven sustainability solutions across biodiversity, climate, circular economy, and pollution monitoring. Below you can read about one of these pilots.
The overview of all use cases can be found here: Use-cases
Use case objective
- The Nature and Ecosystem Services Trade-offs (NECST) use case of the SAGE project aims to pilot the integration of the Green Deal Data Space (GDDS) with a Nature and Ecosystem Services Trade-offs (NECST) assessment tool, demonstrating how a centralized, interoperable data infrastructure can significantly enhance environmental analysis for biodiversity and natural capital assessments.
The general objective of this Use Case is to test and validate the interoperability and accessibility model of the GDDS-NECST framework, enabling seamless integration and sharing of environmental, biodiversity, and geospatial data across stakeholders.
The specific goals of the trial are:
· Identify and integrate multiple data sources of varying structure associated to biodiversity and nature assessments into the GDDS.
· Design and implement the Data Space Connector, enabling interoperability tools and protocols and integration of the diverse data sources hosted at the GDDS.
· Capture the required data from the GDDS into the NECST tool, facilitating the environmental assessment with reliable and traceable data from the GDDS.
· Identify challenges encountered during the trial.
End users
In Use Case Nature and Ecosystem Services Trade-offs (NECST), we identify two distinct end users that benefit from the integration of the NECST tool with the Green Deal Data Space (GDDS):
1. NTT DATA – As the developer and operator of the NECST tool, NTT DATA, particularly its Green Transition team, acts as a key intermediary. The connection to the GDDS enables NTT DATA to access high-quality, standardized, and up-to-date environmental data directly from this trusted European infrastructure. This integration significantly enhances the functionality of NECST, allowing NTT DATA to deliver more accurate, efficient, and policy-aligned sustainability assessments to its clients.
2. Corporate clients – These are companies from various sectors that engage NTT DATA to evaluate their relationship with natural capital. By using the NECST tool, powered by GDDS data, clients can better understand their environmental dependencies, risks, and opportunities. This supports more informed decision-making and helps align their strategies with sustainability goals and regulatory requirements. This dual-user structure demonstrates how the NECST-GDDS integration creates value both for the consultancy (NTT DATA) and the final beneficiaries (the client companies), reinforcing the tool’s role as a bridge between complex environmental data and actionable business insights.
Objectives/Benefits
- Objectives/Benefits for different stakeholders
· Benefits for NTT DATA as consultancy services company and NECST developer:
- High-Value, Differentiated Services for a Nature-Aligned Economy
o Offers more than a digital product—it provides an end-to-end service package: diagnosis, action planning, monitoring, and verification.
o Builds competitive advantage in the emerging market of natural capital valuation and NbS consultancy.
2. Obtention of harmonized, normalized and traceable data from a unique data source
o Before the trial, there is no unified dataset for nature and biodiversity inventories aligned with international standards, making comprehensive biodiversity assessments fragmented and inconsistent. The integration of a Green Deal Data Space addresses this gap by consolidating diverse, high-quality data sources into a harmonized, interoperable infrastructure—enabling more robust, standardized, and scalable biodiversity evaluations.
3. Flexibility and Market Adaptability
o Designed for interoperability and sectoral customization, making it suitable for various industries and governance structures.
o Scalable from site level to portfolio level, enabling broad deployment across business units and countries.
4. Alignment with Corporate and Institutional Policy Trends
o Positions the tool as a core instrument for companies integrating nature into their operational, financial, and sustainability strategies.
o Can complement or inform corporate disclosures, risk assessments, and target-setting under frameworks such as CSRD and the EU Taxonomy.
5. Innovation and Strategic Leadership in the Market
o Built on a methodology that allows continuous updates and alignment with emerging standards.
Reinforces the company’s role as a thought leader and trusted partner in ecosystem-based decision-making.
· Benefits for End Users (Corporate Clients):
1. Data-Driven Environmental Decision-Making
o Access to structured, reliable, traceable and science-based data on biodiversity, climate, and ecosystem services.
o By integrating internal data (e.g., SAP, P&L) with the external environmental datasets through the GDDS, the NECST platform offers a tailored and detailed view of how business operations affect natural ecosystems. This clarity supports more informed and responsible decision-making.
o Identification of site-specific risks, dependencies, and opportunities across assets and operations.
o Supports strategic planning in alignment with the company’s sustainability and financial goals.
2. Development of Nature-Positive Management Plans
o Enables creation of tailored action plans built upon the mitigation hierarchy and resilience principles.
o Flexible application across sectors (hospitality, infrastructure, agri-food, energy, etc.) and geographies.
o Enhances operational alignment with long-term environmental and social commitments.
3. Reporting Aligned with Global Standards (TNFD, CSRD, SBTN, GBF)
o Delivers quantifiable indicators aligned with nature disclosure frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
o Strengthens ESG reporting capabilities with traceability, auditability, and transparency toward regulators and investors.
4. Reputational Advantage and Stakeholder Engagement
o Demonstrates authentic environmental action and commitment to nature stewardship.
Supports engagement with communities, investors, and policy actors by presenting measurable, credible impact.
Tech provider
NTT DATA is the 5th leading IT Service Company in the world. It has over +190,000 professionals, operates in more than +50 countries, and generated 30 billion USD in 2023. NTT DATA offers customized services and solutions to clients that add greater value to their projects. We are committed to helping customers achieve their results and objectives, providing them with competitive business solutions and innovative strategies through the efficient, effective, and rational use of Information Technologies. Within this commitment, NTT DATA aims to contribute to social and economic development. This is part of our parent company’s commitment to building a sustainable society on a global scale.
Participants
NTTDGE, NTTDES, EODC, CREAF
Expected results
The expected results following the trial implementation of connecting the NECST assessment tool to the Green Deal Data Space (GDDS) under two different sector-specific scenarios are detailed below:
1. Validate the NECST-GDDS framework
The trial is expected to serve as a proof of concept for validating the interoperability and functional robustness of the integration framework, enabling enriched biodiversity assessments and supporting evidence-based decision-making aligned with corporate sustainability objectives (End-users).
2. Improve Environmental Data Quality, Accessibility and Consistency:
Seamless access to a wide range of harmonized and standardized datasets (e.g., Copernicus, Eurostat, IUCN) through a centralized data space and established metadata protocols. Through this outcome, environmental assessments at NECST platform become more reliable and data-driven, increasing the reliability and comparability of ecosystem and biodiversity assessments across sectors.
This result addresses the “Fragmented and inconsistent Data” bottleneck, by centralizing diverse environmental datasets into a single, harmonized platform. It ensures that companies have access to reliable, up-to-date information, reducing duplication and improving the quality of environmental assessments.
3. Strengthen Interoperability and Automation:
Automated data ingestion and processing pipelines enabled by the GDDS connector will streamline workflows, reducing human error, and supporting scalable deployment across sectors.
This result addresses the “Manual and time-consuming processes” bottleneck, by reducing the error-prone data handling and lack of interoperability between systems.
4. Enhance Integration with Internal Systems:
The NECST platform connects with SAP, P&L reports, and sustainability dashboards to pull real-time, company-specific data, which through the platform can be combined with the data obtained from the GDDS connection. Thus, the integrated framework reduces manual data handling, improves analysis precision, and supports automated reporting.
By connecting directly with internal systems like SAP and P&L reports, the framework addresses the “Manual and time-consuming processes” bottleneck.
5. End-user Data-driven decision making and improved compliance and transparency:
Ultimately, the framework tested in this trial allows end-users a more accurate and data-based modelling of environmental scenarios based on material risks and dependencies. The tool supports proactive planning and prioritization of cost-effective, nature-aligned actions.
Also, the traceable data obtained through the GDDS connection allows to build trust among stakeholders and supports regulatory reporting and ESG disclosures, avoiding legal and compliance risks due to unclear data provenance or licensing.
Contact
Miguel Segur – miguel.segur@emeal.nttdata.com