Green Deal: Business parks & biodiversity - Flanders

One of the Green Deals of the Flemish Government in Belgium focuses on Business Parks & Biodiversity and explores how investments in biodiversity on business parks can benefit companies, employees, customers, and the image of the company in the short and long-term. The main aim is to increase biodiversity on business sites as well as the level of support for such conservation efforts. More specifically, this Green Deal aims to (1) increase ecological value of business parks through permanent and temporary nature (with the right permit, temporary nature can be removed when constructions on derelict terrains start in order to prevent landowners from taking measures to remove temporal but possibly valuable nature before construction), (2) increase support of different target groups for nature on business parks, such as local and supra-local governments, companies, owners/designers/developers/managers of business parks and industry associations, (3) increase the well-being of employees and the image of the company for customers, suppliers and the environment, (4) build knowledge about this theme by starting a learning network, supply methods and tools, map opportunities and bottlenecks in public policy and legislation, and (5) raise awareness about biodiversity as part of corporate social responsibility. This Green Deal is part of the larger effort of the Flemish Government to contribute to a green economy through the pursuit of environmental objectives in combination with good operational management of participating partners, and increased competitiveness. The Green Deal is not an obligation to produce results but an obligation to make effort; all parties who commit do so voluntarily and commit to do all within their means to realize its goal. Agreements under the Green Deal are usually 3 to 4 years and should pave the way for similar initiatives. The results and gained knowledge are publicly shared in reports.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Public-private business agreement

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Social cohesion
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Human health, comfort and well-being
Other, please specify

The challenges are context dependent per business site

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

Increasing biodiversity in business parks can provide multiple benefits depending on the location and the local challenges (e.g. provide cooling through shade, prevent water nuisances). In order to attract and convince businesses to participate, a focus is put on socio-economic benefits such as those to employees (e.g. they feel better, are more focussed, are more creative and sick less often) as well as the value of being a more attractive workspace to attract employees, increasing real estate value, improving the image with customers, free advertisement, and giving something back to nature as part of corporate social responsibility.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Derelict areas

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Other

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Policy business case

Inclusivity

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Private sector, corporate, business

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Green Deal is a bottom-up instrument in which stakeholders make propositions. The initial idea for the Green Deal Business Parks & Biodiversity came from Natuurpunt (a nature association) and Corridor (a nature consultancy) as they wanted to inspire the Flemish administration that also outside of nature or forest areas actions can be undertaken to improve nature values. They involved the Flemish Department of Environment and Spatial Development, Agency for Nature and Forest at an early stage to develop a shared proposal. They organized three workshops with businesses, local governments and experts. The main goal was to come up with a common goal and outline for the Green Deal. A proposal was drafted by this group and sent to the minister for environment and spatial planning. She approved of the idea and gave a go-ahead to work on it further. After that an open call for participants was launched through various channels: trade magazines, social media, newsletters, press releases, etc. With input from all (new) partners the Green Deal contract was drafted and on the 20th of September 2018 the Green Deal was signed in attendance of the minister for Environment and Spatial planning.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Local governments and intermunicipal associations

Details about the implementation:

Multiple workshops were organized for potentially interested businesses. Participating businesses were asked to fill in a “scan and plan” form; a checklist to investigate what a company could do to increase the ecological value of their business site. This was a method to create a realistic and feasible checklist which could trigger companies to commit and become a part of the Green Deal. Two times per year an (thematic) event was organized to exchange knowledge, tools and experiences and to encourage and challenge the participants to make an action plan and to keep it updated. The engagements of each participating company were established through consultation with the leading parties. In principle, each company decided themselves to what extent they committed to the Green Deal. In total, 135 partners signed the Green Deal Business Parks & Biodiversity to either participate in (having the ambition to take actions to increase biodiversity on their terrain) or support (partners who offer a service or a product (e.g. advice on design or management or supply of ecological seeds) but do not take action on their own business site) the deal. Among the participating partners were (local) governments, governmental agencies, (international) companies, universities and colleges, hospitals and more.

How did the government support the instrument?:

Although the Green Deal Business Parks & Biodiversity was initiated by private and public entities, it is done so within the larger policy framework of the Green Deal of the Flemish Government. This means that the initiating parties signed an agreement with the Flemish government to commit to their ambitions which should be in line with the Green Deal programme. The government does not allocate funds for the Green Deals, but they do offer (1) a contact point at the government who can facilitate or mediate between different policy domains, (2) to investigate if a 'space for experimentation' or a 'space with less regulations' can be created to support innovative start-ups, (3) to support businesses to reach new (foreign) markets.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Corporate investment

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The Green Deal does not provide budgets to the approved deals. The deals are voluntary and partners use their own budgets or try to apply for subsidies through other channels in order to fund particular actions. For example, with the Green Deal Business Parks & Biodiversity, partners did start initiatives to increase biodiversity on their business park through their own budgets. The Flemish Government does invest man-hours to support the deals (see 'government support').

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

An intermediate survey was conducted with the participants to gain insights on the progress of implementing actions to increase biodiversity on their business site as well as which opportunities and bottlenecks they encountered and how the coordinating parties can better support them.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

An evaluation of the overarching Green Deal instrument was conducted after its two year existence, although not specifically for the Green Deal - Business Parks & Biodiversity. The direct impact was hard to measure as the first Green Deals had not yet finished at the time of evaluation. An observed indirect impact was the increase in support for and awareness of initiatives that green the economy as well as the networks and the structured collaborations that initiated around a common goal. The evaluation report recommends maintaining the Green Deal instrument to contribute to a green economy and to collaborate with stakeholders, but highlights that new initiatives should be of high quality with sufficient support. Furthermore, the brand "Green Deal" should not become hollow or greenwashed. More recommendations can be read in the evaluation report (Dutch only) (Vlaams Planbureau Omgeving, 2019).

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

At the end the Green Deal Business Parks & Biodiversity (2021): 35% of the participating stakeholders finished an initiative to increase biodiversity on their business park; 65% of the participating stakeholders are in the process of an initiative to increase biodiversity on their business park; 85% of the participating stakeholders agreed or totally agreed that the Green Deal was of added value to design a more biodiverse terrain (or building); and 73% of the participating stakeholders agreed or totally agreed that the Green Deal helped to increase support for more biodiversity on business parks within their own company or organization. Furthermore, good practice examples of participating partners are published on the Green Deal website as well as inspiration and tools from elsewhere to inspire new organizations to increase biodiversity on their business site.

Success factors and lessons learned:

Participating in a Flemish Green Deal offers opportunities to make initiatives visible, to speed up initiatives, to get involved with less conventional collaborations, to bring the government closer to companies, organizations and civil society and notice their needs. The learning networks are a good medium to build up knowledge. Good practice examples from participating partners were collected and shared. Also the newsletters contributed to sharing information, interesting seminars and good practices (newsletters had a click rate of 35-40%). Some learned lessons are that increasing ecological values is a long term commitment and requires continuous follow-up. Furthermore, it involved mainly large companies that are in a good position and companies/organizations that provide services for the common good (such as water treatment, higher education, intermunicipal associations) that work on biodiversity at business parks. In a possible follow-up initiative, more attention could be given to SMEs and companies with less of a strong position. Stimuli could be provided through tailored advice, adjustments to legislative framework and enforcement or taxes and subsidies. Lastly, there is a large potential for transferability since most companies have a piece of land which they can improve. A lot of companies see the need to restore biodiversity and are looking for ways to help in that. Helping them through knowledge, partnerships, etc. can give them an important nudge to really go ahead with it. Many participants in the Green Deal also have business abroad. Knowledge and best practices generated here in Belgium can find their way to these sites. It should be noted that the effectiveness of the instrument is heavily dependent on the voluntary commitment of participants and the added value of the networking events. Consensus and support for the objectives of a specific Green Deal are of influence on the commitment of partners to the implementation of actions.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Department of Environment. (2022) Green Deal Bedrijven en Biodiversiteit. Available at https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/nl/green-deal-bedrijven-en-biodiversiteit (accessed: 27-7-2022)

Vlaams Planbureau Omgeving. (2019) Evaluatie van het Green Deal instrument. Report available at https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/sites/default/files/2021-11/Evaluatierapport%20Green%20Deals_09072019.pdf (accessed: 27-7-2022)

Interview(s):

Flemish Department of Environment

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/nl/green-deal-bedrijven-en-biodiversiteit

Photos

@Veneco, VZW De Grazer