Building developers in England will be able to more easily address the biodiversity impacts of their projects and comply with the biodiversity net gain (BNG) mandate thanks to the launch today of a new BNG software, which helps companies understand the biodiversity impact of different building designs.

The biodiversity net gain tool developed by One Click LCA allows developers to measure the value of ecosystem loss associated with their building projects and calculate what they need to do to reach 10% biodiversity net gain, as required under the BNG mandate in place since February.

Under the BNG rules, new-build projects in England need to achieve a net biodiversity improvement of at least 10% from Feb. 12, 2024. Renovation projects are not in scope.

Developers can either achieve the 10% biodiversity improvement onsite, by designing in a way that supports biodiversity uplift, or can purchase offsite BNG units from nature restoration projects to comply with the legislation.

Observers are keenly watching the progression of the law as it could set a global standard for government nature requirements, while creating a market for statutory biodiversity credits that developers have to buy off-site as a ‘last resort’.

“The tool helps you understand the biodiversity impact of different design decisions, such as orientations of a building, whether to install underground parking, or to pave over land,” said Panu Pasanen, CEO of One Click LCA, a software company for construction lifecycle assessment.

“By running different scenarios, you can identify the hotspots where you have the highest ecological losses and, depending on the site constraints, you can decide which actions to take to counter this,” he told Carbon Pulse.

While the tool doesn’t provide specific suggestions of ways to improve the biodiversity score of a proposed development, it does specify the amount of onsite habitat change as a percentage and the number of biodiversity units required to offset that.

Developers can make up for the loss of ecological value of a proposed new-build development by introducing plants, water elements, and green roofs, among other things, said Pasanen.

The BNG tool by One Click LCA was developed in partnership with non-profit the UK Habitat Classification System, which has developed the underlying data for the BNG regulation in connection with government bodies.

It was launched today by One Click LCA at their Carbon Experts Summit event in London.

GROWING TOOLS MARKET

It follows the launch of a similar tool by Joe’s Blooms in late March, focused on helping small developers meet their BNG obligations.

The Biodiversity Net Gain Tool by Joe’s Blooms will be available to small developers via the UK government-backed private website for submitting planning applications, Planning Portal, who collaborated on the initiative along with trade association the National Federation of Builders.

Numerous biodiversity-related tools have launched over the last few years as awareness of nature risks has increased, leading to concern about a potential shortage of experts to conduct the necessary surveys.

Executives from across the nature sector have called on the UK government to better resource local authorities to help them implement its BNG policy, as most local planning authorities lack the required expertise or capacity to assess BNG applications, according to the Green Finance Institute (GFI).

The government has pledged £10.6 million of funding to help local authorities expand their ecologist teams, in addition to a £29 mln Planning Skills Delivery Fund to upskill personnel.

One Click LCA’s new BNG tool will help developers meet their BNG obligations without needing an ecologist, so specifically tackles the nature skills shortage that the market currently faces, said Pasanen.

BNG assessments will be made simpler and more accessible for designers and early-stage stakeholders in the construction process, helping to embed biodiversity considerations from day one, the company claims.

Until now, construction firms have mostly outsourced this kind of specialist analysis as hardly any of the major companies have the in-house skills required to do biodiversity assessments, he pointed out.

The new tool, available via an online cloud subscription, allows construction professionals to tackle the BNG mandate on as many projects as they like without needing a specialised ecologist, he said.

Users input information such as area retained of baseline habitat versus created new habitats, to calculate the net change across habitat, hedges, and watercourses, which ultimately calculates whether the 10% biodiversity uplift will be met onsite, or whether offsite BNG units will be required.

Illustration of One Click LCA BNG tool

EARLY-STAGE MARKET

Pasanen said that progress in the BNG market in England is still early stage, with lots of questions and ambiguity about the regulation still remaining.

Clients are also not so busy currently with new-build construction projects due to the economic downturn, which is also impacting development of the BNG market, he said.

Some developers expect to generate surplus BNG units for sale on the market, such as renewable energy developer Low Carbon, which expects to generate thousands of surplus BNG units from allowing the land surrounding its wind and solar projects to naturally rewild.

GLOBAL TOOL

At a global level, One Click LCA also offers a biodiversity stress tool, which measures whole supply chain impact on biodiversity across all locations, for use by companies wishing to voluntarily reduce their biodiversity impact, said Pasanen.

The tool helps companies identify where the biodiversity hotspots are in their supply chain, but unlike the BNG tool, doesn’t have direct regulatory applications.

About 50 One Click LCA customers already use this tool, including Bywater SFC, a joint venture between Sumitomo Forestry Corporation and Bywater Properties focused on low-carbon property development and refurbishment projects across Europe.

Corporate demand for biodiversity credits is yet to pick up on a large scale, due to a lack of education and awareness of the space compared to the carbon markets.

Attention to the voluntary biodiversity credit market ramped up after the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which carved out a role for nature-based solutions to help bridge the biodiversity financing gap, yet most companies are still reluctant to translate their interest into transactions.

By Bryony Collins – bryony@carbon-pulse.com

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