Background The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 underlines the importance of motivating the corporate sector to reduce its negative impacts on biodiversity. Intensive agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss, through the use of heavy machinery, pesticides and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, land consolidation, drainage, etc. Therefore, the food sector has both a negative impact on biodiversity and significant potential for improvement. Food processing companies and retailers can increase biodiversity performance within their supply chains by adjusting standards and labelling. Objectives The overall objective of the LIFEBioStandards project is to improve biodiversity performance in the food chain. In terms of EU added value, the project proposes a multinational step forward in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 by developing standards and having them applied by pioneering companies in the food industry. The food industry, in its role as customer, has a major impact on agriculture and thus on biodiversity issues. The specific objectives of the project are as follows: Include efficient biodiversity criteria in standards and labels for the food sector and encourage food processing companies and retailers to include efficient biodiversity criteria in their sourcing guidelines; Improve biodiversity measures in certified farms by applying the “Biodiversity Performance Tool” and through capacity building; Train certifiers/auditors, assessors and managers of certified farms; Demonstrate the applicability of biodiversity criteria and measures to standard organisations by implementing five pilot projects in certified farms on arable crops, vegetable production, permanent crops, dairy production and meat production; Monitor the impact on biodiversity with a two-level monitoring system; Raise awareness of the issue among procurement and product managers; Establish a European wide sector initiative: “Biodiversity Performance in the Food Sector”; and Compile guidelines on how to ease approval procedures, and suggest operating conditions. Expected results: The project expects to achieve the following results: 500 business associations and 5 000 companies (including retailers and 50% of the large food processing companies) will be informed of the recommendations on the biodiversity standards; 40 standards bodies will substantially improve at least 50% of their criteria and 30 companies will improve their supply chain rules; Regional/ national political decision-makers will take the recommendations into consideration when drafting programmes for the food sector; The “Biodiversity Performance Tool” will be applied by 30 standards organisations; 360 certifiers/ assessors will be trained, with a baseline of approximately 3 000 trained certifiers in four target countries. The training tools developed will be used by 60 standards/labelling organisations and 30 companies; Biodiversity Action Plans will be successfully implemented in pilot projects involving five types of agricultural production in 50 farms. The pilot projects will be extended to three regions for each type of production; 5 000 food companies will receive the Biodiversity Guidelines; Seven “Biodiversity Fact Sheets” will be distributed to approximately 30 000 product/quality managers; 20 standards organisations and companies will join the two-phase monitoring system; 40 organisations will participate in the “Biodiversity Performance in the Food Sector” initiative. An action plan will be approved by the participants; and The project will carry out a comprehensive dissemination strategy, targeting publication of 40 articles on biodiversity issues in media outlets in four countries, attendance at 20 sector-specific events, networking with 10 000 people in the food sector and at least 500 organisations.