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.

For several of our biodiversity pilot projects, we engage with local communities in our biodiversity- and ecosystems-related actions. This was for example the case with our Humber Estuary restoration project in the UK, which we completed in collaboration with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The restoration of the Humber Estuary is an example of coastal ecosystem restoration, a nature-based solution that contributes to the sequestration of carbon, while also restoring the natural habitat to improve biodiversity. We have not yet incorporated indigenous knowledge into our actions; however, this is integrated in our new ‘Biodiversity measurement framework’ and will be done going forward.