News
Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies
Date Released: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Minister O’Sullivan launches new guidance to help public and state bodies take action for biodiversity
- Recent wildlife legislation requires listed public and state bodies to incorporate biodiversity considerations into their operations and report on their progress
- Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies provides practical guidance on incorporating biodiversity into work programmes and on reporting obligations
- The first report on the implementation of Ireland’s 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan is due in summer 2025 and will include progress reported by public and state bodies.
Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD, has today launched Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies. The guidance provides practical steps to help public bodies fulfil their ‘biodiversity duty’ – a new legal requirement for public and state bodies to consider biodiversity in their decision making and daily operations. Developed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) with support from Business for Biodiversity Ireland, the guidance will also assist public bodies in fulfilling their biodiversity reporting obligations.
Minister O’Sullivan said:
“All of us have a role to play in protecting our biodiversity, and that includes our public and state bodies. Many of them, including ESB and Iarnród Éireann, are already leading by example and can see the benefits – for biodiversity, for the public and their own organisations.”
“This guidance will help even more of our public bodies to make a commitment to biodiversity. It suggests areas of business activities within public bodies, from procurement, to construction, landscape management and organisational development, which can have a real impact on our biodiversity. It will also support public and state bodies to report on their progress over the coming months as required by the legislation.”
Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies provides actionable steps and tools for public bodies to embed biodiversity considerations into their operations. It indicates areas of opportunity within public bodies where biodiversity can be incorporated, and sets out how biodiversity duty can be strengthened through clear targets, knowledge and skills development, collaboration and implementation. The guidance also supports public and state bodies to record and report on progress.
ESB is a member of the Business for Biodiversity Ireland platform, which is an initiative seed funded by the NPWS and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), in response to the recognised growing need for business guidance in transitioning to a nature-positive way of working.
Geoff Hamilton, Biodiversity Lead at ESB said:
“Biodiversity action is a core part of ESB’s ambition to make a difference for planet, place and people; we aim to be nature-positive by 2030. In 2024, ESB appointed a Group Head of Sustainability, who has completed the establishment of a new Centre of Sustainability – including the creation of a new role of Group Biodiversity Lead, tasked with driving biodiversity action and transformation across ESB’s business units.”
“We have recently published the ESB Networks Biodiversity Strategy ‘Networks for Nature’ and are currently in the process of developing similar strategies for other constituent business units of ESB. ESB wholeheartedly welcomes this new guidance document, which provides clear directions with regard to our annual reporting duty.”
Niall Ó Donnchú, Director General of the NPWS said:
“Public and state bodies are an important partner in our delivery of the National Biodiversity Action Plan. I would like to thank them for their positive engagement in outlining the steps they’ve taken to promote biodiversity and we welcome further engagement as they implement their biodiversity duty.”
Ireland's 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) was published in January 2024 and sets out Ireland’s vision for biodiversity to 2050. The Plan provides a greatly enhanced governance framework for biodiversity in Ireland that integrates biodiversity into decision making processes across Government. The Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2023 puts the NBAP on a statutory footing, with an obligation for listed public bodies to have regard to its objectives and targets in the performance of their functions. Public bodies must integrate biodiversity into their policies and programmes, and report annually on measures adopted and progress made. The first report on implementation of the 4th NBAP will summarise measures adopted by public bodies and progress to date.
ENDS.
Further Information:
Biodiversity Duty Reporting Guidance for Public Bodies is available here. Public and state bodies listed within the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2023 are listed on Page 11.
Ireland’s 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan
Ireland's 4th National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2023-2030 was published in January 2024 and sets out Ireland’s vision for biodiversity, namely that by 2050 ‘Biodiversity in Ireland is valued, conserved, restored and sustainably used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people’. The Plan strives for a ‘whole of government, whole of society’ approach to the governance and conservation of biodiversity.
Public Body Biodiversity Duty
The 4th NBAP provides a greatly enhanced governance framework for biodiversity in Ireland that integrates biodiversity into decision making processes across Government and provides accountability. The Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2023 places the Plan on a statutory footing, meaning that for the first time in the history of the State, there is a legal requirement to have a National Biodiversity Action Plan. There is an obligation for listed public bodies, including local authorities, to have regard to the objectives and targets of the NBAP in the performance of their functions.
Pubic Body Reporting on Biodiversity Duty
The NPWS and the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) have developed an online survey to allow public bodies to fulfil their reporting obligations. Public bodies may submit information relating to actions taken for biodiversity through this portal. The information provided will be collated by the NPWS and will inform the first implementation review of Ireland’s 4th NBAP. A summary of actions progress will be published on an online tracker hosted by the NBDC in summer 2025.
Business for Biodiversity Ireland Platform (BFBI)
Business for Biodiversity Ireland (BFBI) is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in response to the recognised growing need for business guidance in transitioning to a nature-positive way of working. The NPWS and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine provided seed funding for the Platform to be developed over the course of three years, from 2021-2024. In early 2024 BFBI was incorporated as a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee. BFBI has over 100 business members. See businessforbiodiversity.ie
