Paul King is CEO at Built by Nature that is a network and grant-making fund dedicated to accelerating the timber building transformation in Europe. At the conference Build for Biodiversity 26-27 February 2025, Paul King will talk about the built environment in unison with nature and how we can transform the way we build.
In this article, you can read an interview with Paul King.
What is your background and how do you work with urban nature and biodiversity?
As a child I was fascinated by wildlife and nature. Early in my career I was lucky enough to work for WWF – formerly the World Wildlife Fund, and led a campaign called One Million Sustainable Homes, focused on bringing environmental sustainability to the mainstream of UK housing. I went on to set up the UK Green Building Council and joined the board of the World Green Building Council, and then worked for a multi-national property investor, developer and contractor, leading sustainability for the European business. Tackling our impacts on the climate and biodiversity were two of my biggest priorities.
What challenges do you see for biodiversity now and in the future? What will it take to solve them?
We are facing a global biodiversity crisis. Populations of wildlife species have fallen by three quarters in my lifetime, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report. Finally, the biodiversity crisis is gaining attention similar to the global climate crisis; and of course, both are interconnected. Climate change is wreaking havoc on our natural world: our forests are facing bark beetle infestation, wildfires, and reduced rainfall – all exacerbated by a warming climate.
Some regulators, like the UK Government, are implementing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements for development sites – but this is nationally specific. Built by Nature, working with the Forest & Climate Leaders Partnership and a number of other partners, is developing globally applicable Principles for Responsible Timber Construction to promote the sustainable use of wood and biobased materials for building, crucial for halting deforestation and tackling climate change.
Why is it important to work with value chains and impact on biodiversity off-site in your opinion?
Companies’ biggest impacts on the climate and biodiversity often occur far away from their operations – from upstream activities like mining, sand removal, and wood harvesting. Developers and contractors are increasingly recognising their ecological footprints extend way beyond their construction sites. They need to ensure that resources are sourced and managed sustainably throughout the value chain, to help reduce negative impacts and promote efficiency and circularity. Meeting the growing demands of investors and complying with regulations that require comprehensive environmental impact assessments can enhance a company’s reputation and attract sustainable investment. It is enlightened self-interest as well as the morally right thing to do.
What is the most important aspect for companies to focus on in relation to the stricter biodiversity reporting requirements?
A company needs to be clear about where its most material impacts are – which may be far away from its own operations – and transparent about what it knows about them. It can be really difficult to report on the full range of a company’s impacts, with many different metrics to align with, but the alternative is self-regulation which has not worked well for the environment. It’s still early days for SBTN (Science Based Targets for Nature) and TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure) but they are important steps in the right direction. That’s why the Principles for Responsible Timber Construction are an appealing partner to regulation and accounting. Of course, we want to get to a place where we are holding people to account, but we also want to show them what good looks like and what we can aim for. Initial feedback from key voices – across governments, major corporations, investors, architects, industry bodies and NGOs – is really positive.
If you had to name one change you want to see in the construction industry in relation to biodiversity in the next five years, what would it be and why?
A widespread recognition that for many companies the biggest impacts will be far away from their construction sites, upstream in their supply chains. By rethinking the way you build and the materials you use, you can construct buildings that work in harmony with nature – not against it.
What are you talking about at Build for Biodiversity and what do you hope attendees get out of hearing it?
A built environment in harmony with nature:Our built environment impacts the natural environment in many ways. Many impacts are negative, some are positive. But we tend to focus on the direct impacts, in the locality of the site itself. Just as we are discovering that a growing proportion of our carbon emissions associated with the built environment occur upstream, in the production and transportation of construction materials, this is true of our impacts on biodiversity and natural habitats too. How can we transform the way we build, and create a built environment that works in harmony with nature?
The Principles for Responsible Timber Construction are central to this. They are an expression of our philosophy as Built by Nature (BbN): They act as both a rallying cry towards sustainable practices across the value chain and help show why an independent organisation like BbN is needed to connect industry actors so they can work together for a common goal. The Principles promote systemic collaboration among governments, private sector actors, and NGOs; fostering transparency and accountability to build trust and confidence in sustainable timber. The Principles are a route to positive change for many involved.
Do you want to hear more from Paul King?
Join Paul King at Build for Biodiversity 26-27 February 2025. Read more and sign up here.
