How to unlock nature-positive transformative change in the built environment

The built environment contributes to biodiversity loss, particularly through changes in land use, alterations to the water cycle, unsustainable supply of a wide range of building materials, pollution, and contributions to climate change. Recognizing these impacts, leading companies and financiers have begun to incorporate nature-positive principles into their operations, business models, and corporate engagement strategies. However, there are still many obstacles and challenges related to technology, governance, financing and policy issues for these to reach their potential and contribute to the nature-positive goal at scale. Solving these key challenges requires collective action involving business, finance, and policy.
This report is the result of the engagement of the European Business and Biodiversity Platform (EU B&B) with representatives of the built environment, investors and policymakers to help identify transformative actions that can be taken at different levels to move towards nature-positive models. It highlights current drivers of change (technological, financial, political, etc.) to facilitate nature-positive business trajectories, analysing, in particular, the role of finance and policy as enablers of change, and identifies next steps to step up action.