One Click LCA launches Biodiversity Net Gain Tool for UK regulations

Picture of construction site in England to promote BNG Tool from One Click LCA

The launch follows the February 12, 2024, implementation of the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) mandate. The BNG tool helps developers ensure construction projects result in more or better quality and more sustainable natural habitat than there was before development — assisting the construction industry to support nationwide biodiversity goals, improving public health, and boosting climate resilience.

One Click LCA, the global leader in construction life-cycle assessment (LCA) software, has announced the launch of a new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Tool for developers. The tool makes it easier and faster to complete and scale biodiversity net gain assessments from the early stages of construction development projects.

The UK is regarded as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. Since 1970, species have declined by an average of around one-fifth. Recent assessments have proven that this depletion is ongoing, with progress off-track towards most Government nature targets.

Following the legislation, there has been a renewed focus on BNG. Previously, BNG assessments were the sole remit of ecologists. The One Click LCA Biodiversity Net Gain tool will make BNG assessments simpler and more accessible for designers and other early-stage stakeholders, regardless of prior experience.

The BNG tool, in partnership with UKHab Ltd, uses the UK Habitat Classification System to ensure compliance with the statutory biodiversity metric and ensure results align with the Government’s statutory biodiversity metric tool.

"Between October and December last year, there were 85,200 applications for planning permission in England. The status quo of outsourcing to ecologists can't meet this demand alone and developers must embed biodiversity net gain into their projects from day one. We're proud to partner with UKHab and help empower design teams to deliver results for biodiversity with our tools."

-James Thornton, Biodiversity Product Expert at One Click LCA

The BNG tool will help developers meet requirements by:

Reducing the complexity associated with BNG impact measurement, streamlining and simplifying the assessment process.
Empowering non-ecologists to confidently & accurately perform BNG assessments as part of the early-design phases of a project.
Embedding BNG into design from day one, aligned to project goals and processes.

"The BNG mandate is an important step toward tackling the impact construction has on our environment. By expanding our offering beyond carbon, circularity and life-cycle costing, we’re delighted to be able to now also power quick, accurate BNG assessments.”

-Panu Pasanen, CEO and Founder of One Click LCA

Find out more about One Click LCA's Biodiversity Net Gain Tool.

About One Click LCA

One Click LCA is a Helsinki-based tech company decarbonizing construction and manufacturing with world-leading, easy-to-use, and automated life-cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of building, infrastructure, and renovation projects — as well as construction and other manufactured products. It also enables manufacturers to generate and publish third-party verified EPDs, and allows assessment of circularity, life-cycle cost, and soon also biodiversity. One Click LCA is used in +150 countries. Its decarbonization platform includes a unique global database with +200,000 LCA datasets, and it supports +70 standards and certifications, including LEED, BREEAM, GRESB and other national regulations. One Click LCA was founded in Finland in 2001, and has a team of +175 people on all continents. Learn more at: oneclicklca.com