Energy projects with a net-positive impact on biodiversity 

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Why should renewable energy have a net-positive biodiversity impact?
What are we doing, and what can others do?
Explore some of our biodiversity projects and partnerships
Latest updates from 2023
Key information
Ørsted’s biodiversity policy

We’re bringing together action on two urgent challenges that are too often addressed separately: halting and reversing biodiversity loss and preventing catastrophic climate change. Both crises are deeply interconnected, and to solve either, we must find and deliver solutions that support both climate and biodiversity goals.  


Why should renewable energy have a net-positive biodiversity impact? 


The climate crisis and its impacts are well understood. But biodiversity loss also presents a potentially devastating threat to society. We depend on diverse, healthy ecosystems for the air we breathe, the food we eat, our economic prosperity, and for limiting climate change and protecting those communities most at risk from the extreme weather events it causes. 

Climate change and biodiversity loss are the two global challenges of our time. They need to be addressed with the same urgency. 


Renewable energy as a solution to climate change and biodiversity loss 

One of the most important ways to protect biodiversity is to limit climate change, a major, growing driver of biodiversity loss. This can only be achieved by reducing emissions, most significantly through the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. 

Meanwhile, protecting and restoring natural habitats can help us meet our climate goals and protect communities from the impacts of climate change. This means that when we build renewable energy infrastructure, we should go further than mitigating direct impacts on local ecosystems – we need to help enhance and restore biodiversity in these environments.

We want the transition to renewable energy to be a race to the top – one that creates long-term value for people and nature, with a positive impact on climate and biodiversity.  

 

Discover how renewable energy can address both climate change and biodiversity loss

Read our paper
The importance of biodiversity for climate, nature, and people

Healthy, thriving ecosystems play an important role in the global economy, generating 50 % of global GDP and supporting 40 % of global jobs. These ecosystems sequester carbon from the atmosphere and help regulate temperature. And they provide natural protection from the impacts of waves, storm surges, coastal erosion, flooding risk, and more.


Ocean ecosystems are particularly important. The ocean is the planet’s largest carbon sink, a huge source of economic prosperity, and an environment that’s especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. It’s also where we build offshore wind, one of the biggest sources of renewable energy. All this puts healthy oceans in focus as we work for a healthy planet. 

Give feedback on our biodiversity measurement framework

We’re inviting feedback to accelerate industry consensus on how to measure biodiversity impacts. 

Biodiversity measurement

What are we doing, and what can others do?


We’re on a credible path towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions 

Ørsted used to be one of the most coal-intensive energy companies in Europe. In the space of a decade, we shifted to focus almost exclusively on renewable energy. Today, we’re on track to reach net-zero emissions across our value chain by 2040. 

Our path to achieve this has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This means that we account for all emissions across our value chain, we have achievable short-term targets as well a realistic long-term goal, we only rely on carbon offsets to cover the most difficult-to-eliminate 1 % of emissions, and we finance climate action beyond our value chain.  

  • We encourage every company to set and deliver on a science-based net-zero target – those that use energy, and especially those like us that generate it. If every company did this, it would have a huge impact on climate change and, in turn, biodiversity.  

We commit to delivering a net-positive impact on biodiversity

We’ve set the ambition that all new renewable energy projects we commission from 2030 onwards should deliver a net-positive biodiversity impact. This means that we'll not only avoid, minimise, and compensate for any impact on nature during the lifetime of our projects -– we'll also actively help restore and enhance ecosystems.

As the first company to build an offshore wind farm, we played a leading role in bringing down the cost of green energy generation, particularly offshore wind. Today, our focus is on maximising the long-term value it can generate for people and nature. Our net-positive biodiversity ambition forms part of our broader commitment to build green energy infrastructure right – in a way that creates sustainable social, economic, and environmental benefits beyond low-emissions electricity.

  • We call on other renewable energy developers to set ambitious biodiversity goals backed up by credible action, so that we can raise the bar for biodiversity impact in renewable energy development together.
  • We call on policymakers to include stronger biodiversity criteria in renewable energy tenders, incentivising all developers to focus on value and not just short-term cost for this already highly cost-competitive energy technology. 

We’re taking action and finding the best solutions in partnership 

We don’t have all the answers. What matters is that we act now and work together to find them. We’re partnering with a wide range of experts to develop scalable restoration measures that can help us meet our net-positive biodiversity impact ambition, with a particular focus on ocean health.

Explore more about our projects and partnerships below.  

  • We call on environmental NGOs and the energy sector to work together, using our complementary expertise in conservation and renewable energy to advance our shared goals for a more sustainable future.  
  • We call on governments to integrate their plans for nature protection and climate mitigation. This includes adopting a fresh approach to marine spatial planning that promotes both the rapid construction of green energy and the protection and restoration of ocean habitats. It also means replicating the success of carbon disclosure requirements with a mandatory requirement for businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their impacts and dependencies on biodiversity. 

Explore some of our biodiversity projects and partnerships

Boosting biodiversity on land

We support biodiversity initiatives in environments where we build and operate onshore renewable energy projects.

Restoring biogenic reefs in the North Sea

In partnership with WWF and DTU Aqua, we’re creating new habitats, increasing biodiversity, and improving water quality
Fish in the ocean

Partnering with WWF for ocean biodiversity

Together with WWF, we’re exploring ways to protect and restore biodiversity in offshore wind development

Group seagrass planting

Wilder Humber: Restoring Coastal Ecosystems

We’re partnering with Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wildlife Trusts on a seascape restoration project in the Humber Estuary, one of the UK’s most important conservation sites.
Visual simulation of coral growing on wind turbine foundations

ReCoral: Supporting coral reefs

We’re attempting to settle and grow coral larvae on our offshore wind turbine foundations
3D printed reef going into the sea

Restoring biodiversity in the Kattegat

We’re collaborating with WWF Denmark to explore how 3D-printed reefs can benefit biodiversity

Marine rewilding with ARK Nature

Together with ARK Nature, we’re testing the potential of rewilding principles to restore vital ocean biodiversity

ECO-PAM: Tracking marine mammals

We’re monitoring the North Atlantic right whale, a critically endangered species whose migration habitat lies within areas where we build offshore wind

Latest updates from 2023 


  • We pioneered the installation of artificial nesting structures for kittiwake birds at Hornsea 3 wind farm on the east coast of England – the first project of its kind.

  • As early adopters of the TNFD recommendations, we commenced TNFD-aligned disclosures, fostering further collaboration with TNFD.

  • We are still active members of SBTN's Corporate Engagement Programme, and are working with others to develop an industry standard for measuring biodiversity.

  • On World Ocean Day, we became the world's first energy company to issue blue bonds, raising funds dedicated to offshore biodiversity and sustainable shipping.

  • Teaming up with the Nature Conservancy, we set out to protect nearly 1,000 acres of threatened native prairie at our Mockingbird Solar Center in northeast Texas, contributing to vital ecosystems that offer benefits such as flood prevention, water filtration, and carbon storage.

  • We supported habitat protection and restoration of up to 3,000 acres of tallgrass prairie near Sunflower Wind Farm in Kansas, in partnership with the Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy.

  • At Anholt Offshore Wind Farm in Denmark, we initiated a research project with DTU to cultivate less carbon-intensive foods, promoting a healthier marine environment.

What’s next?

In the short term, we’ll aim to integrate our biodiversity ambition and measurement framework into all upcoming renewable energy projects that will be commissioned from 2030.

In the future, we intend to ensure all renewable energy projects we commission deliver a net positive outcome through effective avoidance, management, mitigation, and where required, offsetting of biodiversity impacts.

Key information 


Partnerships

  • World Wildlife Foundation – five-year global partnership on biodiversity protection and restoration in offshore wind development  

  • UN Global Compact Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business – developing ocean-based climate solutions, including offshore renewable energy 

  • Rutgers University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the University of Rhode Island – ECO-PAM project focusing on detecting the North Atlantic right whale to better understand its presence, distribution, and seasonality within offshore wind lease areas 

  • University of Aberdeen and North Highland College’s Environmental Research Institute – Predict Project, a three-year project focusing on addressing knowledge gaps in offshore wind environmental characterisation by improving understanding of fish migration patterns and providing a vision for next-generation monitoring techniques

  • Penghu Marine Biology Research Center – ReCoral project, piloting innovative solutions aimed at coral restoration

  • Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust – Humber Estuary restoration project, planting salt marsh and seagrass and introducing native oysters to replenish and strengthen the local ecosystem

  • ARK Nature – including rewilding measures in the Netherlands to test their potential to restore vital ocean biodiversity


International frameworks 

  • UN 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets 
  • UNGC Sustainable Ocean Principles 
  • EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 
  • Convention on Biological Diversity   


Governance 

Accountability lies with our Head of Global Stakeholder Relations and heads of regions. 


Policies


These efforts contribute towards the following Sustainable Development Goal: 

Explore our latest insights and stories about biodiversity

A tale of two COPs: Connecting climate and biodiversity

Amy Finlayson, Lead Public Affairs Advisor at Ørsted, lays out how industry, governments, and nature conservation NGOs can work together on solving the twin climate and biodiversity crises.
Group seagrass planting

Why does climate adaptation matter for coastal ecosystems and communities?

Samir Whitaker, Biodiversity Lead Specialist at Ørsted, shares insights into the climate adaptation strategies that can help protect people and nature from the effects of climate change.
Fish in the ocean

Why the health of our oceans is vital to us

Madeline Hodge, Lead Sustainability Advisor at Ørsted, lays out five areas where ocean health is vital to humanity – and why we need to protect it.