What is BS ISO 17620:2025 - Designing and implementing biodiversity net gain about?
BS ISO 17620:2025 is an international standard for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in built environment development projects. It provides a structured process for designing and implementing BNG, ensuring that biodiversity is left in a measurably better state than before a project begins.
The standard sets out requirements for delivering BNG at every stage, from preparation and design through to implementation, maintenance, and monitoring. It builds on existing frameworks and consolidates best practice, offering a single, clear specification for organizations to demonstrate when BNG has been achieved.
Who is BS ISO 17620:2025 - Designing and implementing biodiversity net gain for?
BS ISO 17620 is designed for a wide range of users, including:
- Design and pre-construction professionals
- Sub-contractors and clients
- Procurement and contract specialists
- Project managers
- Project ecologists
- Local authority planners
- Quality managers
- EIA coordinators, environment and sustainability managers, landscape architects
- It applies to all scales of development, from small housing projects to large infrastructure, and is relevant for both new builds and ongoing maintenance activities.
What does BS ISO 17620:2025 - Designing and implementing biodiversity net gain cover?
BS ISO 17620 covers the process for designing and implementing biodiversity net gain in development projects. It includes:
- Requirements for BNG at each project stage (preparation, design, implementation, maintenance, monitoring).
- Guidance for projects of any scale, affecting land and freshwater environments.
- A framework for demonstrating that a project has followed good practice in BNG
- Links to existing work and examples to facilitate understanding and implementation.
Please note, BS ISO 17620:2025 does not cover the actual delivery of BNG, nor does it infer compliance with statutory requirements, but it provides a robust process for achieving and evidencing BNG.
Why should you use BS ISO 17620:2025 - Designing and implementing biodiversity net gain?
Using BS ISO 17620 helps organizations:
- Demonstrate delivery of industry good practice and build confidence with clients, agencies, and stakeholders.
- Provide evidence for planning conditions or regulatory requirements related to biodiversity net gain.
- Enhance consistency across projects, reducing errors and promoting a uniform approach.
- Embed ambition into procurement and project management processes.
- Differentiate themselves and avoid accusations of ‘greenwashing’.
- Strengthen brand value by following a credible, evidence-based approach.
- Support the achievement of voluntary, local planning, or contractual BNG requirements.
- It is anticipated that adoption will become part of contract specifications for developments where BNG is expected.
Considering biodiversity in the strategy and operations of organizations?
Discover BS ISO 17298:2025, a brand new international standard that provides requirements and guidelines for considering biodiversity in the strategy and operations of organizations.
BS ISO 17298:2025 equips organizations of all types and sizes with a practical framework to understand, assess, and act on their biodiversity impacts and dependencies, helping them embed biodiversity into their core strategies, operations, and decision-making.
