What's next for Embodied Ecological Impacts?
The urgency of the nature and biodiversity crisis is finally getting recognised in the built environment. Many will have followed COP16 in Cali, Colombia, the biodiversity equivalent of the climate conference that’s wrapped up in Baku, Azerbaijan. A few years ago, many were only familiar with the “climate COP”. Now, awareness and action on nature and biodiversity on the international stage has been permeating the built environment sustainability bubble.
It’s largely accepted that COP16 in Colombia fell short of what was needed. While there were some breakthroughs, such as on indigenous representation or genetic resources, it ended without significant progress on key issues like mobilising finance. The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has secured just short of $400m in pledges from governments, woefully short of the COP15 target of $20bn per year.
Luckily, COPs are not the only forum we have to drive change: political progress also happens outside of them. We have seen huge momentum within business, the private sector, and the built environment. Here at UKGBC, we have contributed to that momentum for several years now, with a quickly evolving line of work on nature and resource use. In September 2023, we launched our knowledge hub on Embodied Ecological Impacts to create awareness about the indirect ways the built environment affects biodiversity and ecosystems elsewhere, away from construction sites.
On 5th November, UKGBC convened the conference “Conversations on Embodied Ecological Impacts” to meet people and expand our networks, share learnings, and ask questions. Over the day, 100 attendees discussed how to integrate EEI in projects and the role of metrics and data, as well as insights from other sectors. Here are some key takeaways from the day:
Figure out what matters
Understanding our impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems is a challenging but crucially necessary task. Understand your organisation’s relationship with nature, such as your dependencies and impacts (known as double materiality). Tools such as the Encore database provide a good starting point, and TNFD and SBTN offer valuable guidance for your first steps.
Action over data
Metrics and data have taken centre stage in nature and biodiversity conversations, and rapid progress in that area is needed. But the most impactful thing we can do right now is act on what we know already. If you figured out what your organisations relationship with nature is, this should give you plenty to work with. Do you rely on large quantities of material being mined? Start there: minimise the need for virgin material to avoid the associated negative ecological impacts. In other words, use less stuff, apply the mitigation hierarchy, adopt a circular economy, and prioritise refurbishment and reuse. You don’t need biodiversity data for that.
Engage with your supply chain
Compared to other sectors, the built environment’s supply chains are severely lacking in transparency, making targeted action to eliminate negative ecological impacts at the source an incredibly tricky task.
Most of us don’t know where the aggregates in our concrete come from, whether the sand has been quarried on land or dredged at sea, or whether the iron ore for the steel has come from the Amazon or Australia, let alone what the local implications are for ecosystems. We need to start asking questions and sharing information and progress. Acknowledging the complexity of the task, starting with one material, and understanding the supply chain are good first steps.
Other sectors, like fashion and agriculture, are ahead of the curve on transparency. What could we learn from them? What would the equivalent of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition look like in the built environment? What can we learn from food and agriculture’s farm-to-table approach when it comes to supply chain traceability?
Our EEI conference was rooted in enabling a level of honesty and openness in all conversations, because admitting our knowledge gaps is what allows us to move forward in the right direction.
If you are interested in collaborating with UKGBC on this workstream, please reach out to us. We’re eager to hear from your experience and learn from your best practice examples. Let’s keep up the momentum together.
Embodied Ecological Impacts
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