Content of the Offshore Wind Nature-Positive Contributions Framework

Appropriately framing the key concepts of measurable Nature-Positive contributions is critical for ensuring offshore wind projects understand the scope and scale of their contributions and determining how these may be delivered. This guidance explains how key concepts and appropriate framing can help offshore wind projects to achieve measurable contributions to Nature-Positive. This includes consideration of prioritisation, understanding losses and gains from development activities, the scope and scale of actions to deliver measurable outcomes, and frameworks that can be applied to help operationalise decisions and actions. The guidance also considers how actions at the site level that support the halting and reversal of biodiversity loss integrate with ensuring people-positive outcomes.

A navigator that brings together a robust understanding of key concepts and framing to promote the appropriate focus for guiding the implementation of measurable outcomes at the site level.

All offshore wind projects will lead to some form of adverse impact for marine biodiversity features – whether direct, indirect or cumulative. Understanding if a development will lead to integrity loss is therefore an important concept, since such impacts constitute a risk of non-alignment with the Nature-Positive goal. Although understanding impact significance is context-specific, this report provides guidance on where predictable higher-risk sector impacts that could lead to integrity loss may be applicable. This understanding offers opportunity for offshore wind projects to ensure that such impacts are managed to non-significant levels through adoption of avoidance, minimisation and restoration measures. This report offers guidance to offshore wind projects to understand contexts where there is a higher risk for integrity loss to occur, including consideration of the available evidence base. This incorporates guidance related to components of the conceptual framework, including screening relating to baseline state using ecologically appropriate scales and predictable project impacts. Such understanding also informs the application of approaches that support the measurement of integrity loss.

Establishing the evidence base for integrity loss arising from the impacts of offshore wind projects will support guidance around understanding in what contexts and scenarios measurable integrity loss could arise. This review and collation of the available resources reporting on and documenting the impacts of offshore wind projects on biodiversity includes: i) specifically highlighting any examples identified where integrity loss has been observed for biodiversity features and in which ecological context; ii) exploring examples where integrity loss was predicted theoretically through modelling approaches, and how this played out in practice (i.e., what was the response to this prediction in terms of implementation of mitigation measures, and whether/how the effectiveness of this mitigation in terms of integrity loss was validated through monitoring); and iii) summarising the evidence for where integrity loss related to offshore wind farms has not been identified or has not been considered likely to occur (including where residual impacts were non-significant prior to any mitigation measures, and cases where residual impacts were reduced to non-significant levels through avoidance, minimisation, and restoration measures). The review will consider the ecological context and rationale for integrity losses, provide citation information, and provide links to resources where available.

Alignment with the Nature-Positive goal requires actions that are measurable and contribute towards the reversal of biodiversity loss. This requires an understanding of how actions may lead to integrity gains. This report offers guidance to help frame, evaluate and select actions that provide measurable contributions to Nature-Positive. The guidance will build on the existing evidence base to inform the selection of the most impactful interventions based on context, including consideration of priorities, feasibility and the potential for long-term outcomes.

Establishing the evidence base for integrity gains arising from the actions of offshore wind projects will support guidance around understanding in what contexts and scenarios measurable integrity gains could be achieved. This review focuses on collating available resources reporting on and documenting measurable integrity gains (for individual or multiple biodiversity features) arising from the actions of offshore wind projects and broader conservation actions that could be supported by offshore wind projects. This will include the evidence available for integrity gains identified as achieved via i) offsets addressing significant project-related residual impacts on integrity; ii) measurable additional conservation actions (MACAs) addressing identified pressures driving integrity loss; iii) other positive actions (e.g., Nature Inclusive Design designed and implemented at the site level). The review will consider the ecological context and rationale for integrity gains, provide citation information, and provide links to resources where available.

This works seeks to establish how metric approaches are currently used at the site level by offshore wind projects, and how these may relate to the emerging consensus for defining metrics to measure broad holistic state-of-nature outcomes, including consensus being built by the Nature Positive Initiative. This includes a review of the relevance of metrics being applied by offshore wind farms related to establishing the baseline, understanding impacts and determining outcomes, and the relationship of these with commonly affected biodiversity receptors. Such approaches are evaluated in terms of their potential application to support measurement of losses and gains, and thus Nature-Positive contributions. In addition, gaps in the evidence base and limitations in the scope and scale of current metric application will be evaluated, including for example their sensitivity, coverage, potential for scalability, and feasibility. The evaluation of metrics will be informed by guidance on how to appropriately determine losses and gains meaningfully in the context of Nature-Positive.

Nature-Positive is a holistic outcome that will be delivered through an aggregation of actions that combine towards the societal goal. There is therefore no absolute all-or-nothing approach that qualifies as being Nature-Positive. In the real world, actions exist across a continuum of minimum to maximum contributions that aggregate to achieve the goal. As such, achieving the desired outcomes of the Nature-Positive goal does not rely on absolute definition of actions, but rather an aggregation of outcomes that align towards the goal. It is important to note that it is not realistic to deliver contributions in a linear and equal manner across projects; and for progress to be achieved, it is important to recognise the relationship of specific actions that can be delivered in relation to the goal. This may be related to preventing loss and/or to the scale of outcomes associated with positive actions that seek to reverse loss. Therefore, guidance will be provided to help inform how the actions taken by offshore wind projects may contribute towards Nature-Positive outcomes, including illustrative conceptual examples related to offshore wind projects. Whilst understanding the scope of contributions of different actions does not offer a form of measurement, it does help to select actions in relation to the potential scale of contributions. Framing how actions relate to contributions to the Nature-Positive goal also offers insight that may shift approaches towards outcomes that deliver greater Nature-Positive contributions for wind farm projects.

An interactive tool that supports the understanding of the position of actions undertaken by offshore projects within a continuum of outcomes that contribute to the Nature-Positive goal.

The protocol will present a State-Pressure-Response framework to guide offshore wind project approaches towards measurable Nature-Positive contributions. This will embed criteria across these steps that bring together the guidance developed across this interconnected toolbox of guidance and tools.

Case study application of guidance and tools developed across this toolbox for offshore wind projects. This will include examples that cover different environmental contexts, project scale, context of biodiversity values and project phases (e.g., early-stage development, operational, decommissioning). This would show the full lifecycle of how Nature-Positive contributions can be measured and achieved. This will include consideration of the evidence base and scope and scale of effective measurable Nature-Positive contributions.