Neil Burgess, Natasha Ali, Jacob Bedford, Nina Bhola, Sharon Brooks, Alena Cierna, Roberto Correa, Matthew Harris , Ayesha Hargey, Jonathan Hughes, Osgur McDermott-Long, Lera Miles, Corinna Ravilious, Ana Ramos Rodrigues, Arnout van Soesbergen, Heli Shivonen, Aimee Seager, Luke Swindell, Matea Vukelic, América Paz Durán, Jonathan Green, Christopher West, Lauren Weatherdon, Frank Hawkins, Thomas Brooks, Naomi Kingston, Stuart Butchart

Biodiversity metrics are increasingly in demand for informing government, business, and civil society decisions. However, it is not always clear to end users how these metrics differ or for what purpose they are best suited. We seek to answer these questions using a database of 573 biodiversity-related metrics, indicators, indices, and layers, which address aspects of genetic diversity, species, and ecosystems. We provide examples of indicators and their uses within the state–pressure–response–benefits framework that is widely used in conservation science. Considering complementarity across this framework, we recommend a small number of metrics considered most pertinent for use in decision-making by governments and businesses. We conclude by highlighting five future directions: increasing the importance of national metrics, ensuring wider uptake of business metrics, agreeing on a minimum set of metrics for government and business use, automating metric calculation through use of technology, and generating sustainable funding for metric production.