Our business model is to develop, construct, operate, and own renewable assets, and we are committed to doing this in an environmentally and socially sustainable way. However, we recognise that expanding our operations also implies a greater pressure on natural ecosystems. Therefore, protecting and restoring these ecosystems must be part of the solution, and we remain fully committed to effectively manage our impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. Biodiversity management is an integral part of our business model and decision-making processes throughout the full life cycle of our projects. This ranges from early-stage site selection and planning, over project design, construction, operations, and eventually to decommissioning.

In 2024, we updated our 'Biodiversity policy', which applies to all sites owned and operated by Ørsted, including sites in or near biodiversity-sensitive areas. The policy addresses the direct impacts from our operations on biodiversity, ecosystem protection, and sustainable ocean practices. The scope of the policy covers all of Ørsted’s renewable energy assets, both offshore and onshore, and includes our initial steps towards addressing biodiversity in our value chain and the associated dependencies. More specifically, we engage with some of our tier 1 suppliers on their progress on working with biodiversity, similar to our approach with decarbonisation. Our biodiversity policy does not currently cover the impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems from e.g. raw material extraction in our upstream value chain. However, we are committed to working with our suppliers through our 'Supply chain sustainability programme' on mitigating their impacts on biodiversity, where we are currently engaging with our tier 1 suppliers.