The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) a distributed European Research Infrastructure to enable research to understand the greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets and perturbations aims to analyse its impact in a broad approach including scientific, societal, and economic aspects. The analysis shall comprise ICOS data, results and services. As societies constantly have to adapt to environmental challenges, data and services from environmental research infrastructures such as ICOS play an important role in societal decision processes. Furthermore, ICOS data and services may have unlocked innovation potentials and economic impact that require an improved strategy for further development of the research infrastructure.

The aim of the requested study is to analyse impact in several steps:

1.to define a comprehensive framework for impact analyses describing the impact of an Environmental Research Infrastructures in General and specifically ICOS RI to science, society, and economy in a broad and comprehensive approach,

2.to develop a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) enabling ICOS RI to evaluate its impact,

3.to describe the current impact of ICOS RI, and

4.to develop a strategy to improve it.