THE Sustainability Impact Ratings · Methodology 2026 v1.0
SDG 15 — Life on Land · Biodiversity contribution for IMT Atlantique
A question-by-question response to the Times Higher Education (THE) Sustainability Impact Ratings — SDG 15 indicators, drawing on biodiversity actions documented by Frédéric Pallu (Ingénieur général des Mines, IMT Atlantique) across the three campuses (Brest, Nantes, Rennes).
THE Sustainability Impact Ratings — SDG 15: Life on Land
The views expressed here are the author's own and do not represent IMT Atlantique.
This page is a biodiversity contribution to a potential THE Sustainability Impact Ratings submission for IMT Atlantique on SDG 15 — Life on Land. It maps documented evidence on the three campuses (Brest, Nantes, Rennes) to each THE indicator (15.1.x to 15.4.x), in line with the 2026 methodology rules (per-question scoring; self-contained evidence required for the LLM-assisted validation).
Scope: this is not the full institutional submission. It covers only the biodiversity actions delivered at IMT Atlantique, for IMT Atlantique, or piloted by the author on the three campuses within his institutional mission. Bibliometric research data (15.1.x) and waste/water policies (15.4.x) are explicitly flagged as not covered by this contribution — they must be supplied by other IMT Atlantique departments. Personal naturalist work outside IMT Atlantique campus footprints (and outside the La Chantrerie area, immediate environment of the Nantes campus), personal academic credentials of the author and personal citizen contributions are out of scope — see the Methodology & sources panel (top right) for the full exclusion list.
Score dashboard
Metric
Title
Weight in SDG
Coverage by this contribution
Estimated score / max
Score colour coding per indicator: good ≥ 75%partial 30–75%low < 30%out of scope
The canonical JSON is the source of truth, designed to be ingested by an LLM under human supervision when re-generating this page for a future THE questionnaire. The schema (JSON Schema draft-07) documents every field. The methodology PDF is the official THE document.
Method & limits
Scope and status
This page is a biodiversity contribution by Frédéric Pallu (Ingénieur général des Mines affecté à IMT Atlantique) to a potential Times Higher Education (THE) Sustainability Impact Ratings submission on SDG 15 — Life on Land. It covers actions delivered at, for, or piloted by the author on the three campuses within his institutional mission. It does not substitute for IMT Atlantique's complete submission. Coverage by this contribution is per-indicator: every question is annotated explicitly with a coverage status (covered, partial, not covered by this contribution, or research department required).
Scope exclusions
The following are explicitly excluded from this contribution:
iNaturalist observations recorded outside the IMT Atlantique campus footprints and outside the La Chantrerie area (immediate environment of the Nantes campus). The author's full ~8,000 observations across western France are not used as evidence without geographic filtering.
Personal naturalist expertise and association field trips conducted outside any IMT mandate.
Personal academic credentials of the author (VAE MSc MNHN, DU Lorraine, DESU AMU/IMBE).
Personal citizen contributions to public consultations on urban planning or environmental projects outside the author's IMT mandate.
IMT Atlantique biodiversity actions led by other staff without the author's involvement (energy, waste, mobility, catering, social policy).
THE scoring rules (2026 methodology)
Each qualitative indicator: up to 3 points (statement 1 pt + evidence up to 1 pt + evidence is public 1 pt). Policy indicators (15.2.2, 15.3.1, 15.3.2, 15.3.4, 15.4.2, 15.4.3): up to 4 points (extra 1 pt if policy created or reviewed 2020–2024).
Evidence scoring: specific = 1.0 / general = 0.5 / not relevant = 0.
Free-access educational programmes (15.2.4–6): up to 1 pt; charged-access only: 0.25 pt.
Bibliometric indicators (15.1.x): derived from Elsevier Scopus / SciVal — not addressed by this contribution.
LLM validation rule (2026 — important)
Validation is performed by an LLM with human oversight. The validator does not follow links — evidence must be readable inline on the submitted page. Pages that are primarily lists of links are rejected. Every response on this page is therefore drafted to contain the substantive evidence inline; the self_contained field on each evidence item documents compliance with this rule.
Verify that every cited url is still live and that self_contained still holds.
The page consumes the JSON at load time — no rebuild required.
Update methodology_version and generated in meta.
Limits
Biodiversity sub-contribution only. Other SDG 15 angles (research bibliometrics, waste, water, food) are explicitly out of scope.
Score estimates are the author's professional judgement applied to the THE rubric — they must be confirmed by an institutional validator before submission.
15.3.4 (alien species policy) is partial — a formal policy document is in preparation but not yet public.
Quantitative figures (surfaces in m², species counts, observation counts) are time-stamped — see the generated field of the JSON for the validity date.