Managing our land assets and providing products to enhance biodiversity and facilitate wellbeing through engagement with nature.
Biodiversity Promotion
Why is this important?
Human wellbeing is sustained by access to ecosystem services such as crop pollination, fresh water, and soil fertility. Ecosystem services are weakened as biodiversity declines, reducing the availability of food, water and medicine.
Our ambitions for 2030
We will use the Biodiversity Net Gain metric to demonstrate a minimum 10% Biodiversity Net Gain is achieved or in progress, when averaged across our land assets, compared to a 2022 baseline.
Making this happen
- We have developed a strategy to promote biodiversity and increase employees’ engagement with nature.
- We will digitise our ecology and land asset management datasets and establish site-level baselines for future biodiversity enhancements.
- We will train employees to conduct Biodiversity Net Gain assessments and invite community members to join us in making habitat enhancements.
- We will partner with experts to improve land management decisions.
Find out more
Click on the circles in the diagram below to learn more about each aspect of our plan to promote biodiversity.
Building partnerships
We are partnering with other organisations to combine different skills, experience, and assets to solve complex problems and maximise the positive impact our biodiversity strategy will have. Our partnerships span science, product innovation, education, and advocacy.
Why is this important?
Organisations must work together to affect the level of change required to reverse biodiversity loss.
Our ambitions for 2030
We will have curated a network of trusted partners to tackle biodiversity loss.
Making this happen
- Through our parent company wienerberger AG, we have signed Business for Nature’s Call to Action. Under this commitment we will advocate for biodiversity promotion through policy consultation responses, industry forms and other relevant opportunities.
- We will grow our existing partnerships, such as those with local Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, to benefit biodiversity at our manufacturing and office sites.
Developing products and services
wienerberger’s nature-positive approach will consider the biodiversity impact of the company’s products across the whole lifecycle: from raw material sourcing, through the benefits in use, to end-of-life stage.
Why is this important?
By carefully curating our products and services, wienerberger can amplify positive impacts upstream and downstream of our business.
Our ambitions for 2030
Our products and services will improve people’s quality of life, promoting biodiversity and the efficient use of energy and water in the built environment.
Making this happen
- We have updated internal product development scorecards to favour product concepts that improve outcomes for biodiversity.
- We have partnered with experienced ecologists to inform product design.
- We continue to respond to our customers’ needs with new products and services, including an expansion of the Eco-Habitat product range.
- A bioscope assessment will be used to calculate an ecological footprint score for each product category
Enhancing the wellbeing of our people and communities
Good health and wellbeing is a fundamental human right, it is also a UN Sustainable Development Goal, and our biodiversity strategy can improve wellbeing outcomes for both our employees and communities.
Why is this important?
Time spent in nature can not only produce positive health outcomes, it provides the opportunity to develop a connection with the natural world and cultivate care for it. By creating more advocates for nature conservation, we scale the impact of this biodiversity strategy.
Our ambitions for 2030
- We will be able to demonstrate high levels of mental and physical wellbeing amongst employees, evidenced by our H&S reports and biannual employee surveys.
- We will be able to demonstrate that wienerberger adds value for communities through our social impact statement.
Making this happen
- We will encourage employees to utilise green spaces during their working day. Where practical we will include a nature trail in each manufacturing site’s Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plan.
- We will establish a network of Biodiversity Ambassadors who will become key activators for their teams, engaging other employees and conducting simple ecology surveys.
- We will explore opportunities for biodiversity-related community initiatives on site and support initiatives in the community.
Improving our land assets
We will manage our land assets with the aim of creating valuable habitats and promoting regional biodiversity by increasing connectivity with other biodiverse sites. Managing our land assets is central to our strategy.
Why is this important?
Human activities are causing major changes in ecosystems across the globe leading to biodiversity loss.
Our ambitions for 2030
We will use the Biodiversity Net Gain metric to demonstrate a minimum 10% Biodiversity Net Gain is achieved or in progress, when averaged across our land assets, compared to a 2022 baseline.
Making this happen
- Every wienerberger manufacturing site will have a Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plan. These plans will detail all the actions we will take to achieve an average 10% Biodiversity Net Gain alongside other vital ecological information. By 2030 each site should demonstrate improvement within its Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plan, contributing to the overall target.
- Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) will be used to inform habitat creation and enhancement. This will empower us to make the right interventions in the right places and enhance connectivity with other biodiverse sites.
- We will calculate Ecological Value Scores using the LEFT tool for our existing sites and any land we intend to purchase. This will capture both the ecological value of the site and the surrounding area, and the results will inform our Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plan for the site.
Sharing data and information
wienerberger’s biodiversity strategy will result in an increase in both the quality and quantity of data that we collect and store.
Why is this important?
By sharing our data and information with others wienerberger can assist other conservation initiatives, helping to close knowledge gaps on species abundance and habitat condition.
Our ambitions for 2030
Our biodiversity data is reliable and consistently curated, it is stored in accessible repositories for our people and is shared with relevant Record Centres for the benefit of our partners and our communities.
Making this happen
- We will share habitat and species records with relevant Record Centres to improve local and regional datasets.
- We will digitise our ecological records and our Biodiversity Enhancement Management Plans,making them easy for our people to access and use for decision making.
- We will maintain accurate land cover and habitat data for all our land assets. This will enable us to demonstrate Biodiversity Net Gain and improve our processes for monitoring the condition of known biodiverse areas
What's next?
We will keep you updated on our collective progress with routine reports supplemented by case studies and news articles, sharing how our product portfolio is evolving and celebrating the partnerships we have formed.
.jpg)