Nature positive in practice: How we turned an event into biodiversity net gain
As biodiversity markets take shape and nature impact becomes a firm part of the climate and sustainability agenda, companies need practical ways to align with nature positive goals. Our recent event in Sydney provides one example: making events nature positive.
We hosted a select group of investors and changemakers for a private evening exploring the next wave of climate investment, biodiversity, in partnership with Mills Oakley. Events like this are about ideas and connections, but they also have an environmental footprint that spans not just emissions, but also nature - from travel and catering, to energy and digital usage.
We wanted to go a step beyond just offsetting impact to make the event nature positive. A gathering that not only reduced and offset its impact, but contributed more back to nature than it took. Here’s how.
What ‘nature positive’ means
The past decade has seen new conservation policies and biodiversity markets that have typically been designed to achieve ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity. Under these no net loss targets, biodiversity that is negatively impacted or lost in one place should be compensated for by restoring or improving the same amount of biodiversity somewhere else as an offset or mitigation. But the global trajectory of habitat and species loss has continued over the past decade. It is clear that ‘no net loss’ is not enough.
Discussions around nature positive started emerging into global prominence around 2022, initiated from the discussions held in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15. The most frequently cited definition is the one by the Nature Positive Initiative:
“Nature positive means ‘increasing the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations and ecosystems so that by 2030 nature is visibly and measurably on the path of recovery’. To put this more simply, it means ensuring more nature in the world in 2030 than in 2020 and continued recovery after that.”
For companies, it’s about shifting from offsetting to investing: from balancing losses to restoring, regenerating and creating a net gain for biodiversity.
Our methodology for nature positive outcomes
Historically, identifying how much biodiversity action, and which biodiversity actions, might be needed to offset impact has been difficult. Governments, corporates and philanthropists would most typically invest into conservation projects, such as replanting trees in a previously destructed ecosystem, and many of these projects have achieved environmental outcomes. However, measurement of those outcomes has been challenging and, where it has been attempted at all, it has been inconsistent. Without a common metric for biodiversity, it’s hard to be sure how much specific conservation projects have achieved and whether they have achieved enough to meet a ‘no net loss’ target, let alone a nature positive target.
Calculating the impact
Our biodiversity impact approach is grounded in science. We looked at two types of biodiversity impacts:
Immediate and short-term land-based impacts, where the land-clearing and habitat loss associated with goods and services provided by specific sectors are accounted for, and
Longer-term climate impacts that place an estimated 8% of the world’s species (and up to 23% in selected global regions including South America, Australia and New Zealand) at risk of extinction.
We assessed the land- and climate- biodiversity based impacts associated with an event by looking at five key areas:
Transport: Estimating total kilometres travelled by individual transport modes by collecting the postcode from which attendees traveled to the event and their travel method (e.g. car, train, bus, foot, flight).
Accommodation: Calculating the number of hotel-nights generated by attendance at the event (by attendees and the event team).
Catering: Accounting for the impact of food and beverage provision based on supply chain impacts.
Venue and AV usage: Including the meeting space and from the provision of audio, visual and computer services at the event.
Online planning and delivery: Accounting for the impact of virtual meetings to plan and deliver the event (an increasingly important area of impact as online and hybrid events become more popular).
We leveraged models provided by the world's top research institutions including CSIRO, Stanford University and Cornell University to estimate the biodiversity impact across each of these aspects of event delivery. We estimated land-based impacts using expenditure-based methods, multiplying expenditures generated by the event by the average per dollar biodiversity impact for the relevant sector. Climate-based impacts were estimated using a conversion factor of 2.3 × 10−7 species expected to be committed to extinction for each tonne of carbon generated.
In order to move beyond offsetting and achieve a nature positive outcome for our event, we then added 10% to our total impact calculation. We use this nature-positive number as the basis for our associated biodiversity investment.
Selecting the right, measurable, biodiversity actions
Biodiversity credits pave the way towards nature positive because they represent a measurable unit of biodiversity. Skjander manages a portfolio of biodiversity credits, each with a known quantum of biodiversity uplift that has been calculated using robust scientific methods and verified through government quality assurance processes. This means that we can identify and invest in the biodiversity credits that are required to meet the specific nature positive outcome being targeted.
For our event, we’ve opted to invest in our Wetlands units. Each unit represents 1% uplift over one hectare of habitat located in bioregions that contain nationally and internationally significant wetlands, in particular in the Murray Darling region of NSW. This particular region is home to at least 16 mammal species, 35 bird species, five snake species and one lizard species that are endangered, and our investment will financially contribute to the restoration and maintenance activities of this region in perpetuity.
What nature positive means for nature markets
Our event was a relatively small event in its own right. But it was an important step towards nature positive, a target that can only be achieved through the collective outcome of many small contributions to nature.
Making events nature positive is more than symbolic. It demonstrates how everyday activities can be tied to measurable biodiversity outcomes. The same mechanisms that allow us to offset an event’s footprint - quantifying impact, sourcing verified biodiversity units, and reporting on outcomes - are the foundations of a broader market in biodiversity. For investors, this is a glimpse of how capital can flow into nature recovery at scale. For corporates, it shows how emerging frameworks like TNFD and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework can translate into practical action. What starts with an event is a proof point for how biodiversity becomes investable.
Skjander can apply its biodiversity impact methodology, alongside its portfolio of biodiversity credits, to manage the biodiversity impacts of events of all sizes. This enables companies to demonstrate their commitment to biodiversity in a robust, credible and transparent way as they take their own first step towards nature positive.
References
The Guardian. (2024). Labor Has Adopted Its Own ‘Nature Positive’ Approach to the Environment. But Is It Just a ‘Snazzy Slogan. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/05/labor-national-environment-laws-policy-endangered-animals.
Convention on Biological Diversity. (2022). COP15: Final Text of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Available in All UN Languages. https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-final-text-kunming-montreal-gbf-221222.
Science. (2015). Accelerating extinction risk from climate change. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaa4984
S&P Global. Nature and Biodiversity. https://www.spglobal.com/sustainable1/en/solutions/nature-and-biodiversity
Global Change Biology. (2023). Reporting the biodiversity impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.17037?msockid=103d05b7a70e60b434351430a63c617e
