Feasibility Study for a Spatial Decision Support Tool for Business Use in Biodiversity Offsetting

eCountability is leading a team that is aiming to prove the viability of an innovative new spatial Decision Support System targetted at enabling the construction industry to meet its environmental obligations whilst maintaining or improving national levels of biodiversity. Biodiversity offsetting is increasingly being used to ensure that development can proceed while protecting natural capital. The UK government sees it as central to reconciling economic growth with biodiversity protection and has published a Green Paper with commitment to announce proposals by the end of 2013. Major developers in the construction and energy sectors need access to high quality environmental data and an efficient process to assess and deliver biodiversity offsets so that developments can go ahead without delay. This project brings together a consortium of the leading national and local environmental data providers, experts in the biodiversity offsetting concept and geospatial solutions and one of the UK's leading construction companies.