Today, we launched the Framework for a Nature Positive Built Environment, providing the sector long-needed clarity on how to translate the global ambition to halt and reverse nature loss into practical, scalable action.

The launch comes at a moment of escalating urgency. The UK Government’s National Security Assessment has identified biodiversity loss and ecosystem breakdown as a national security risk, with implications for economic stability, supply chains, food security and community resilience. Against this backdrop, the role of the built environment in protecting and restoring nature is one of the front-line solutions to the crisis.

While “nature positive” is now a widely recognised goal, the sector has lacked a shared, credible definition and a consistent approach to delivery. This has led to fragmented action and uncertainty about what good looks like in practice. The new Framework addresses this gap, aligning the built environment with the global nature-positive goal and setting out clear pathways for action across organisational strategy, asset management and development activity.

The Framework positions nature as a core consideration for resilience, value creation and long-term asset, financial and operational performance. From land use and construction to supply chains and materials, the built environment both depends on and impacts nature. As climate and nature risks intensify, ecosystems are now recognised as critical infrastructure – they provide essential services – reducing flood and heat risk, strengthening supply chains and supporting health and wellbeing.

Simon McWhirter, Chief Executive of UKGBC, said:

“Nature is the very foundation that underpins our economy, our safety and our wellbeing, not just an optional extra for the built environment. The impacts of nature loss are already visible in rising operational and insurance costs, disrupted supply chains and mounting climate risk.

This Framework gives the sector the clarity it has been missing. It sets out what ‘nature-positive’ means in practical terms and how organisations can act now, embedding nature into decision-making, investment and delivery, rather than treating it as a nice-to-have.

Nature-positive action also drives enhanced finance and value. There is a growing opportunity to mobilise investment at scale into homes and places that work better for people, nature and the economy.”

Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation at UKGBC, said:

“This Framework is designed to support real-world decision-making across the built environment. It shows how organisations can embed nature-positive outcomes into strategy, governance and investment, while also guiding project teams through the practical actions needed at asset and development level.

By taking a whole-lifecycle approach, the Framework helps the sector move beyond isolated efforts towards consistent, credible action that restores and regenerates nature at scale, while complementing greater resilience and adaptive capacity overall.”

What the framework delivers

The framework provides a common foundation for credible and consistent action, including:

A clear, sector-specific definition of what nature-positive means for the built environment

Actionable pathways across the full asset lifecycle, from organisational strategy and governance to planning, design, construction, operation and end-of-life

Alignment with global and UK frameworks and standards, including TNFD, SBTN and ACT-D, supporting credible target-setting and disclosure

Practical guidance that can be embedded into organisational strategy and asset and development delivery across the full lifecycle

A pathway that moves beyond minimising harm to actively restoring and regenerating nature

It supports action at both organisational level and at asset and development level, guiding teams to avoid irreversible harm, minimise impacts and deliver net-positive outcomes for nature.

The Framework was co-developed by UKGBC and an expert Task Group of 33 organisations from across the built environment, supported by wider industry engagement through workshops and formal consultation. The result is a robust, credible and sector-owned approach designed to support leadership, reduce greenwashing risk and enable action at any starting point.

Ģ��ֱ�� calling on developers, asset owners, designers, consultants and the wider supply chain to use the Framework to integrate nature recovery into mainstream planning, design and operations, and to help shape the policy and market conditions needed to deliver nature-positive outcomes at scale.

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment Project Partners

Thank you to the generous support of our project partner.

Nature

Nature is in crisis.�� The built environment has a critical role to play in protecting and restoring nature and moving to a regenerative model of development.

View more

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What is nature positive?

We may be at a tipping point in our relationship with nature. The loss of biodiversity and the rapid degradation of ecosystems have reached critical levels, pushing us closer to irreversible changes. In response to this reality, the����(GBF) has set an ambitious goal to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and begin to reverse it by 2050. The UK has followed, committing to protecting 30% of its land and seas by 2030, underscoring the need for immediate action.

Amid this urgent need, the term “nature-positive” has emerged. Nature positive represents a collective effort to combat biodiversity loss and the negative impacts on the natural environment, transforming it into a shared goal: “.

The built environment sector��has a crucial role to play in achieving nature positive.��This framework provides key definitions, the steps and recommended actions needed to��progress towards��a nature-positive built environment.������

Download the framework here

Who is this framework for?

Everyone can and should play a role in avoiding and reducing harm, restoring, and regenerating the natural world. This framework provides key definitions, the steps and recommended actions needed to progress towards a nature-positive built environment. The key audiences for the framework are:

Design and construction teams:

architects, urban planners, engineers, ecologists, consultants, and contractors

Supply chain:

materials suppliers and product manufacturers

Building owners and occupiers:

developers, property and facilities managers, estate teams, and occupiers

Government:

local authorities, national and devolved administrations

Nature is the very foundation that underpins our economy, our safety and our wellbeing, not just an optional extra for the built environment.”����

Simon Mcwhirter, chief executive, UKGBc

Resilience & Nature Partners

Our climate change adaptation work is supported by our Resilience & Nature Partners.

Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment Project Partners

Thank you to the generous support of our project partner.

Nature

Nature is in crisis.�� The built environment has a critical role to play in protecting and restoring nature and moving to a regenerative model of development.

View more

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This webinar will launch a new Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment. Building on existing guidance and aligning to the global goal to halt and revers nature loss by 2030 (using a 2020 baseline), and to achieve full recovery by 2050, this Framework sets out the steps and actions for built environment stakeholders to implement across assets, infrastructure and within organisations.

During this session, we will provide an overview of the Framework’s content, share industry specialist perspectives, and highlight practical actions you can start taking now.

You will leave with a clear understanding of how this Framework can support the transition to a nature-positive built environment.

Who Should Attend?

• Design and Construction teams – Architects, urban planners, engineers, consultants, contractors.
• Supply Chain – Materials suppliers and product manufacturers.
• Developers, asset owners and managers, and occupiers.
• Policymakers – local authorities and national governments.

Speakers

• Chair – Yetunde Abdul, UKGBC Director of Industry Transformation
• Keynote Speaker – Dr Tony Juniper CBE, Natural England
• Project Lead – Macarena Cárdenas, UKGBC Senior Advisor: Resilience and Nature.

UKGBC cancellation and refund policy

Please see our website for more details on our cancellations and refunds: /ukgbc-cancellation-and-refund-policy/ 

Resilience & Nature Programme Partners

With thanks to our programme partners who make our work on nature possible.

PROJECT PARTNER

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It was inspiring to see such an engaged room discussing how something as technical as contracts can actually become a lever for real change. ��
��
In my lightning talk, I drew on our work at UKGBC developing the Framework Definition for a Nature-Positive Built Environment, for which we are collaborating with the industry to help add clarity on what nature-positive really means for our sector, and I’m excited to share some of those insights below.��

For me, the most important thing about contracts is this: they aren’t just paperwork or protection for liability. They can drive accountability, foster collaboration, and embed nature-positive action throughout the built environment.

Why Nature-Positive Matters

The global goal is clear: to halve and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and to be nature-positive by 2050.

The urgency is real. In just 50 years, global wildlife populations have collapsed by 73 percent. In the UK, wildlife has fallen by 9 percent since 1970, on top of centuries of decline. These numbers can feel abstract, and it is easy to feel detached from them.��

But let me bring it closer to home. Nature has no boundaries. Ecosystems are continuous, and depletion here or on the other side of the world ultimately affects the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the materials we rely on- where the most vulnerable ones are the most affected.��

When nature is depleted, people and businesses are at risk. The physical, financial, social, and moral consequences of inaction are enormous, and I am sure that anyone reading this blog would like a limited and depleted future.

The built environment’s role

The built environment sits at the heart of this challenge, but for the same reason, is a huge part of the solution.

If you consider that over half of all global resource extraction feeds construction, and that cities drive 75% of biodiversity loss through land use, material demand, and energy use, how much good, how much nature enhancement , could we give back to nature if we acted appropriately for it?��

There are so many chances where we can get this right. Every stage of the building cycle, from materials to operation to waste, leaves an impact on nature. How could it be if that impact were positive?��

The exam question is: What actions can the built environment take to halt biodiversity loss and enhance nature? And ultimately, what does a nature-positive built environment look like?

A Framework for Change

This is where UKGBC’s Framework Definition for a Nature-Positive Built Environment comes in.��

As project lead, I’ve seen how valuable it can be to have a shared vision that sets out scope, responsibilities, and the concrete actions needed to reverse biodiversity loss. The framework is about ensuring that across organisations, projects, and supply chains, stakeholders are aware of their impacts and equipped to make better decisions for nature at every stage.��

Here is where contracts can come in.��

There is no single silver bullet to becoming nature-positive. We need a diversity of actions, and contracts can be one practical tool we have for adding business resilience, as well as, and most importantly, environmental resilience.��

“Business is such a powerful creative force on this planet; a force that is able to contribute either constructively or destructively to the future vitality of life on Earth.”��

— Giles Hutchins, Regenerative Leadership��

Contracts aren’t just paperwork. Done well, they turn intentions into action, align stakeholders, and help the built environment leave a positive legacy for people and nature.��

A Powerful Reminder

Yesterday’s conversations reminded me just how much power our industry holds, and how much responsibility comes with it. If we can make even our contracts vehicles for positive change, then we are taking action in our hands (and paper) to lock in the shift in our system towards a future where both people and nature thrive.��

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This consultation is a broad call for input to ensure that the Framework is robust, relevant and widely supported.

Please download the supplementary document below before responding to the consultation.

Learn more

Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment

Through this Framework, we’re working to provide the clarity, tools, and guidance needed to ensure the built environment can take meaningful steps toward this goal – starting now.

Learn more here

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The Ģ��ֱ�� (UKGBC) is launching a consultation to directly hear from all subsectors in the wider industry on the proposals for the Nature-Positive Framework for the built environment.

This initiative marks the first attempt to build consensus on what nature positivity looks like in the built environment, and to identify the principles and actions organisations can adopt to contribute to broader efforts to support the industry in addressing biodiversity loss and enhance the natural environment.

This initiative marks the first attempt to build consensus on what nature positivity looks like in the built environment, and to identify the principles and actions organisations can adopt to contribute to broader efforts to support the industry in addressing biodiversity loss and enhance the natural environment.

To define the Nature-Positive Framework, UKGBC formed an Industry Task Group. From May 2024 and until June 2025, Ģ��ֱ�� leading stakeholder meetings, expert interviews, and workshops, building on frameworks like the Global Biodiversity Framework. These efforts have shaped the consultation, which will run until Thursday, June 12th.

Smith Mordak, Chief Executive Officer at UKGBC, said:

We are at a critical point for nature. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation have reached alarming levels, pushing us towards irreversible changes. In recognition of this, the Global Biodiversity Framework aims to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and reverse it by 2050; and the UK has committed to protecting 30% of its land and seas by 2030, emphasizing the urgent need for action. These goals will not be achieved without concerted and coordinated action from the built environment. If we’re to meet ‘A Global Goal for Nature Positive by 2030,’ we must embrace nature-positive principles: we cannot only reverse biodiversity loss but must create thriving ecosystems.

This powerful term – ‘nature-positive’ – represents a collective effort to combat biodiversity loss and care for and enhance our environment. But without widespread consensus as to what ‘nature-positive’ means, collective action will be seriously hampered. This project is to build that consensus – both of meaning and commitment to action. We urge leaders in the built environment to join us in this mission and submit their responses to help shape a sustainable future.”

Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation at UKGBC said: 

The built environment industry has a crucial role in achieving a ‘nature-positive’ world by 2030. The big question is how. Through this Framework, we aim to provide alignment and guidance needed for built environment organisations to take meaningful steps toward this global goal – starting now. We must act urgently and call on the industry to collaborate in establishing clear definitions and frameworks to prevent greenwashing and ensure accountability.”

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Ģ��ֱ�� developing a Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment to provide clarity and guidance for industry professionals. We’re inviting feedback to ensure it’s clear, holistic, and widely supported.

In this webinar, we’ll walk you through the proposals and the key questions we’re seeking feedback on. We’ll explain why this matters, what the framework is, how it can support you and your organisation in contributing to nature-positive goals, and how easy it is to take part – no prior knowledge needed. This is your chance to help shape the future of the industry.

Context

Ģ��ֱ�� developing a Framework for a Nature-Positive Built Environment – a shared foundation for industry action. This framework aims to bring clarity and direction on what “nature positive” means in practice, and how organisations across the built environment sector can contribute.

To ensure it is a simple, practical, ambitious and widely supported, we’re inviting you to take part in our industry consultation. This webinar will help you to take part in the process.

Who should attend?

This session is for anyone working in or connected to the built environment – from designers and developers to planners, policymakers, engineers, consultants, and contractors. You don’t need to be an expert in biodiversity or nature – just interested in being part of shaping meaningful industry change.

Whether you would have already looked at the consultation or are completely new to it, this event will walk you through the key proposals, highlight where your input is needed, and explain how to take part.

Why attend?

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