Bluedot is pleased to introduce an interactive Nature Position Tool (NPT) designed to help organisations define their position with respect to delivering net positive impact (NPI) for biodiversity, and how this can contribute to broader cumulative nature positive outcomes at the societal level.

Over the last two years, Bluedot has shared high-level guidance to help organisations frame their biodiversity ambition, operationalise NPI approaches to achieve outcomes aligned with conservation goals for both biodiversity- and people-positive, and begin to navigate the concept of nature positive that has emerged over this time.

The NPT builds on and embeds key definitions and points from the previous guidance (see Box 1). Recognising that organisations still need support to improve understanding on how to define ambition and how NPI actions can contribute towards a nature positive future, the NPT brings the guidance together in an easily understandable way. The NPT illustrates the continuum of approaches and actions that can be delivered by an organisation to contribute to nature positive outcomes. This goes from proportionate site-based actions that balance losses and gains, to broader transformative ecosystem-based actions that go beyond that.

The NPT enables organisations to visualise how their biodiversity approaches may be contributing towards nature positive outcomes – setting a position for nature. It can be used to set ambition, frame desired outcomes and to define the position on what has been achieved. It also allows them to understand how to they may be able to shift this position in a way that aspires to deliver greater contributions to the broader goal of nature positive.

It is possible to allocate a position at both the corporate-level and for individual site-based operations. Furthermore, it is possible for different parts of a business to set different positions and for positions to vary between sites, or from the site-level to the corporate-level, especially across complex organisations. In this way, the NPT provides clarity on any differences in priorities, intent and outcomes across an organisation, and allows tracking of relative performance along the continuum for each business unit or site – which is very helpful for maintaining overall corporate insights into company performance against its commitments or obligations. The NPT can thus also function as a tool to aid a company’s internal and external communication of ambitions, approaches and outcomes.

The NPT is conceptual and will require an organisation to define approaches that are specific to an understanding of their risks and opportunities to deliver positive outcomes. This may differ across organisations, business units and sectors. The best outcomes will relate to approaches that seek to halt loss where greatest risks occur and/ or where it is possible to achieve the most transformative positive outcomes. This means that some of the principles and approaches that the NPT introduces may vary when it is applied by an organisation to ensure that it is most relevant to their specific circumstances.

The following principles are embedded in the NPT:

• The minimum ambition is to deliver NPI for biodiversity related to new direct operations.
• NPI approaches can relate to new and existing sites, direct and indirect impacts, upstream and downstream value chains.
• The NPT demonstrates that taking transformative actions to halt loss and deliver biodiversity-positive outcomes in the wider land- and seascapes in which an organisation operates will have greatest contribution to nature positive (positions to the right on the NPT).
• The NPT implies that halting biodiversity loss is a priority. Transformative biodiversity-positive actions will not drive greatest contributions to nature positive until halting loss for direct and indirect impacts at the site-level have been addressed (positions to the left on the NPT). This aligns with the need to both halt and reverse loss as part of the nature positive concept. Once halting loss has been operationalised at this level, achieving transformative biodiversity-positive outcomes across supply chains and at the wider ecosystem-level are important to drive greatest contributions to nature positive. This also acknowledges that an organisation has greatest potential to prioritise halting loss relating to its direct and indirect site-based impacts.
• An organisation can make contributions to nature positive through taking various positions across the NPT relating to their actions to halt loss and deliver biodiversity-positive outcomes. For instance, an organisation can take transformative biodiversity-positive actions even if all components of halting loss have not been implemented. This gives an organisation flexibility to drive positive outcomes for biodiversity whilst halting loss is being operationalised. This ensures that transformative actions that seek to reverse biodiversity losses as part of a NPI approach or through using wider voluntary additional conservation actions (ACAs) are not limited.
• Wherever possible, biodiversity-positive actions should also deliver people-positive outcomes across the diverse values of nature. They should be equitable, just, and respect human rights.
• Where possible, nature-based solutions should be integrated into organisational approaches. Such approaches have the greatest potential to enhance planetary resilience and maximise people-positive outcomes.

• NPI is an operational goal focused on ensuring a positive balance of outcomes for biodiversity. NPI is synonymous with the term ‘net gain’. NPI implies first achieving no net loss (NNL) to biodiversity. Robust application of the mitigation hierarchy is essential for driving this outcome; and ensuring prioritisation of avoidance will help organisations to deliver NNL and NPI.
• NPI approaches require quantification of losses and gains (loss-gain accounting) at an ecologically appropriate scale. Loss-gain accounting should consider the effect of mitigation measures, which may be an iterative process involving optimising site-level mitigation. Where significant impacts remain after implementing avoidance, minimisation and restoration actions, offsets will be necessary to achieve NPI. Where NNL is achieved without offsets, ACAs can be used to deliver NPI.
• When assessing both losses and gains, it is important to determine whether there are measurable and significant changes to ecosystem integrity. With respect to losses, this may include irrecoverable loss that effects long term persistence of ecological features and processes (a definition that is aligned with best practice biodiversity safeguard standards).
• Nature positive is a broader and holistic, aspirational, and – above all – societal goal that seeks an outcome where losses of biodiversity are halted and reversed globally, related to a static baseline position, with associated benefits for people and planet. This is aligned with the vision and mission of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• This definition means that whilst an individual company cannot claim to be nature positive at the organisational level, it can take actions that contribute towards achieving this societal goal. Every organisation can play a part in halting biodiversity loss, most importantly through NNL and NPI goals; and NPI actions might also contribute to reversing biodiversity loss for specific features.
• However, reversing overall loss requires the delivery of broad-scale, collaborative, interconnected and measurable outcomes. This means actions beyond the site level, in the land- and seascapes in which companies operate, as well as at the sectoral and systems scales to support transformative change.
• Implicit in the nature positive concept is that companies should ensure they do not contradict, undermine, oppose, or trade against the core principles of halting and reversing biodiversity loss globally. This means the preventative stages of the mitigation hierarchy are fundamental. Whilst offsets might be implemented to address significant residual impacts and to achieve NNL or NPI, avoiding biodiversity loss in the first place is the approach most aligned with the nature positive concept and with global goals for biodiversity. Acknowledging that some impacts are inevitable, the next priority should be to avoid significant residual impacts so that NPI can be achieved through ACAs with measurable outcomes. Ideally, these actions would also be designed to support broader ecosystem-scale transformative outcomes.
• Also implicit in the nature positive concept is that biodiversity is fundamental for human wellbeing. The vision of the Global Biodiversity Framework is that a healthy planet should deliver benefits essential for all people. In contrast, traditionally, NPI approaches focus on outcomes for biodiversity, and associated outcomes for people are often overlooked. This can be addressed through integrated NPI actions designed to consider nature-based solutions and relevant social aspects.