Assessing how far a ‘Net Zero’ strategy moves an organisation towards ‘Nature Positive’ contributions

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. You must log in to post a comment. There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. Add a Comment You must log in to post a comment. Comments There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Nature Positive’ frameworks can guide organisations to contribute towards climate and biodiversity goals, but are often implemented separately. It remains unclear whether achieving Net Zero strategies can aid progress towards Nature Positive goals. We apply footprinting methods to a case study (Wadham College, Oxford) to quantitatively assess whether an organisational Net Zero strategy – focusing on GHG emission reductions – could deliver biodiversity co-benefits. We find the college’s 2035 Net Zero strategy alone could reduce its biodiversity impacts from utilities, built environment, and direct land use by approximately 67%. However, we find (i) Net Zero initiatives have variable embodied biodiversity impacts, (ii) achieving both Net Zero and Nature Positive goals requires extensive compensation of residual impacts, and iii) the scope of Net Zero strategies often omits activities relevant for biodiversity. Our study implies pathways exist for achieving carbon and biodiversity objectives together, provided careful and quantitative coordination between strategies. https://doi.org/10.32942/X2R36R Biodiversity Net Zero, Nature Positive, Biodiversity footprinting, Biodiversity strategy Published: 2026-02-13 09:09 Last Updated: 2026-02-13 09:09 CC BY Attribution 4.0 International Conflict of interest statement: None Data and Code Availability Statement: The data that supports the findings of this study are available in the supplementary information. They are also available online https://github.com/charlottemaddinson Language: English