Last week was the International Day for Biological Diversity, originally created by the UN back in 1993. The theme for this year is āFrom Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversityā1, following from commitments made at COP15, the lesser known sister of the original COP28.Ā
Considering the theme this year is about ābuildingā, whatās happening in the construction & real estate industries to support biodiversity? (see what I did there š)
In 2019, the UK government announced that Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) would become mandatory for all new developments in England. BNG is a development strategy to develop land and contribute to the recovery of nature, making sure the habitat for wildlife is in a better state than it was before development2. The important word here is net gain: developments must positively contribute min. 10% increase in biodiversity3. It makes a nice change from just trying to ānot be worseā, also known as achieving net zero.Ā
Fast forward to 2023, and BNG will be a legal requirement from November on 100% of new development projects. Ideally, developers will protect or create new wildlife habitats on their own land. But, if they canāt manage that, they must buy statutory credits from the government. Thatās right, weāre talking offsets: climate techās favourite punching bag.Ā
Source: University of Glasgow
As with all offsetting projects, BNG sounds great in theory. But some fear that in practice, BNG will not deliver on the positive impact on our biodiversity that it promises. Back in 2019, Friends of the Earth questioned if the government's plan for BNG was āanother ruse to let developers trample over our wildlifeā4, citing previous offsetting attempts that failed5.
However, I canāt help but think that if itās quite literally a legal requirement that new developments measurably improve the habitat of wildlife, surely that will be a good thing? It will certainly be a good thing for ecologists, whose business will be booming come Q4 this year.Ā
Modelling for the government estimated a market of around 3000 hectares annually, with an average income of between Ā£260 to Ā£670 per hectare, per year6. Considering that the habitats must be maintained for a minimum of 30 years, thatās a potential market value of Ā£42 million between now and 2050. To put things into perspective for land owners, the total income for farming in 2020 across England was Ā£379 per hectare. Selling that land as an offset might end up being more attractive for some land owners, particularly when the lifetime value is pretty much guaranteed.Ā
But itās not just farmers who should benefit: your neighbour with a green thumb should be getting in on the action too. Thatās the proposal by researchers from the University of Sheffield, who suggest homeowners who maintain a lush garden should pay lower council tax as a reward7.Ā
I completely agree. It reminds me of the bottle deposit scheme in Germany, where consumers who return their empty glass and plastic bottles get paid for the service8. In fact, why donāt kind souls who voluntarily pick up litter get a discount on their council tax already? Weāre missing a trick there.
If local authorities did introduce lower council tax for tending to your flower beds, that would cover a lot more hectares annually. 633,000 more to be precise9. Looking at those hectares through the BNG lens, thatās an annual market of Ā£300 million. But letās start with at least getting a discount on council tax first.Ā
In any event, Iād love to see something which got people into biodiversity like they are into gardening. About half of the UK are gardeners, and almost 90% of people want to encourage more wildlife into their garden10.Ā
I had an idea last year to sell eDNA kits for measuring and improving the biodiversity of your garden, a la 23andMe, but for your local hedgehogs and such. If you put some aesthetic packaging round it and made a nice app, Iām sure some people would be interested. Call it GaaS (gardening-as-a-service) and you might raise VC money as well.Ā
Thanks for reading, and let me know: have any biodiversity businesses, or regulation, caught your eye recently?Ā