Energy network launches tender for biodiversity and carbon credits
Major infrastructure buyer seeks offsite biodiversity units and high-integrity carbon credits, signalling growing demand for nature-based climate solutions.
Major infrastructure buyer seeks offsite biodiversity units and high-integrity carbon credits, signalling growing demand for nature-based climate solutions.
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National Grid UK Limited has gone to market for offsite biodiversity gain solutions and high‑integrity carbon credits, signalling that nature restoration and carbon removal are becoming core components of energy infrastructure delivery. Published on 15th May 2026, the new Biodiversity and Climate Solutions contract notice asks the market for formal biodiversity units, nature‑based schemes on land and at sea, and verified carbon credits to help meet the company's infrastructure and climate commitments.
The notice sets out four main strands. National Grid is looking for offsite biodiversity gain solutions, including formal biodiversity units; nature‑based solutions that can restore and enhance habitats; marine restoration projects; and high‑integrity carbon credits. Together, these are intended to support the environmental footprint of its infrastructure projects and underpin wider climate goals.
Offsite biodiversity gain solutions allow the company to secure habitat improvements away from the immediate footprint of new works. By specifying formal biodiversity units, the buyer points to a need for quantified, trackable habitat outcomes that can be linked to planning and regulatory requirements. Biodiversity gain becomes a measurable part of project delivery rather than a generic mitigation measure.
By placing nature‑based solutions and marine restoration alongside classic terrestrial planting, the tender widens the scope to terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. That opens the door for a mix of providers, from land managers and habitat banks to marine restoration specialists, to support grid projects through long‑term ecological enhancements.
The emphasis on high‑integrity carbon credits links the opportunity to a wider concern among institutional buyers over the quality of offsets. Rather than simply buying generic credits, National Grid is signalling interest in carbon projects with clear governance, transparent methodologies and robust monitoring over their lifetime.
In November 2025, Sunderland City Council signalled its own reliance on third‑party Biodiversity Net Gain units, seeking registered units from external suppliers to meet planning conditions by April 2026 and to address a shortfall in particular habitat and watercourse types. Local planning authorities are turning to the market where on‑site measures alone cannot deliver the necessary biodiversity gains.
Central government has also stepped in. In December 2025, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a notice to procure BNG units of Very High or High Distinctiveness from registered gain sites in England, stressing the need for high‑quality habitat enhancement that complies with defined legal and monitoring requirements. That puts rigorous reporting at the heart of habitat credit schemes.
Regulators and specialist credit bodies are exploring similar models. On 26th January 2026, the Environment Agency sought market feedback on securing off‑site BNG units to support a flood resilience scheme in Cornwall, with a focus on defined habitat types. In February 2026, Norfolk Environmental Credits Limited began assembling an open framework for nutrient mitigation solutions on low‑grade arable land to achieve nutrient neutrality in designated catchments. And in December 2025, The Crown Estate launched a sustainability advisory framework to secure strategic advice on net zero, nature recovery and social impact across its portfolio.
Water companies are building procurement routes for biodiversity gains into their capital programmes. United Utilities issued a contract notice in December 2025 to source BNG units from approved providers, explicitly to comply with environmental regulations and ensure project delivery aligns with legal obligations. In March 2026, Northumbrian Water Limited went to market for biodiversity units to mitigate environmental impacts from its investments and enhance local wildlife and habitats. National Grid's new tender suggests electricity networks now expect to participate in the same secondary markets for biodiversity units and related credits, embedding offsite gains as a routine part of infrastructure planning and Environmental Impact Assessments.
The decision to bundle carbon credits with biodiversity and restoration services in a single contract notice shifts how large infrastructure operators structure their climate strategies. National Grid is looking beyond emissions reductions from its own assets towards verified removals and contributions that are visibly aligned with nature recovery.
Other buyers are framing their needs in similar terms. On 5th May 2026, the Met Office opened preliminary engagement on UK nature‑based carbon removal credits, exploring the market for domestic projects that remove carbon while delivering environmental co‑benefits. On 14th May 2026, National Highways Limited launched its own market engagement on carbon removal credits, asking for support not only in securing credits but also in developing projects and drawing on expertise in policy, finance and technology. Carbon markets are becoming areas where infrastructure operators expect strategic advice, not just transactional purchasing.
Alongside credit purchases, many organisations are investing in direct decarbonisation. In April 2026, the Common Services Agency announced plans with NHS boards to secure fully funded renewable energy solutions to drive carbon reduction, while Wokingham Borough Council is preparing a large‑scale solar farm to offset electricity and gas emissions and potentially sell surplus power. In the rail sector, Network Rail Infrastructure Limited is procuring a supplier‑funded on‑site renewables framework to transition non‑traction power to renewable sources via long‑term power purchase agreements.
Against this backdrop, National Grid's emphasis on high‑integrity carbon credits shows that residual emissions from infrastructure are expected to be addressed through projects that can withstand closer scrutiny. Buyers want clearer evidence on how credits are generated, governed and monitored over time, and how they intersect with wider nature‑recovery plans.
The Biodiversity and Climate Solutions tender sits at the visible end of a longer chain of environmental assessment and monitoring activity. To offer formal biodiversity units or marine restoration, suppliers will need credible baselines, repeat surveys and evidence of ecological outcomes that will stand up in planning and regulatory processes.
Recent procurements show how that capacity is being built. Southern Water Services Limited has sought suppliers for a framework covering sustainable drainage, habitat restoration and biodiversity improvement, explicitly including land management, environmental monitoring and community outreach. In December 2025, the city of Niort in France launched a biodiversity support services framework for rehabilitation and construction projects, covering biodiversity assessments, ecological inventories, regulatory assistance and monitoring of implemented measures. Together they illustrate how Environmental Impact Assessments are evolving into multi‑year programmes of monitoring and adaptive management.
Scientific and policy bodies are also investing in tools to understand systemic biodiversity risk. On 12th May 2026, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a prior information notice on nature security research, aiming to develop approaches for assessing and monitoring national security risks from biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, and to create tools and frameworks to inform government policy and strategic foresight. On the marine side, JNCC Support Co is procuring hosting and support for the UK Marine Noise Registry, ensuring that the software and data behind this national system remain available and supported through 2027. Such datasets form the evidence base against which marine restoration projects, like those sought by National Grid, will be planned and assessed.
Internationally, restoration and offsets are increasingly tied to major infrastructure. In December 2025, Portugal's Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas sought specialist services to develop a National Nature Restoration Plan across terrestrial, coastal, freshwater and agricultural ecosystems. In February 2026, the Government of Solomon Islands went to market for biodiversity conservation and offset programmes linked to the Tina River Hydropower Development Project, with a focus on long‑term protection, community involvement and compliance with environmental standards.
The brief published on 15th May 2026 is concise, and detailed requirements will sit in the full procurement documents. Even so, the wording already points to themes that suppliers and observers will watch closely: how National Grid defines formal biodiversity units, what kinds of nature‑based and marine restoration projects it will accept, and what criteria it will apply to judge the integrity of carbon credits.
For ecological consultancies, land managers, marine specialists and carbon project developers, the notice signals that large infrastructure buyers increasingly want integrated offers that span habitat creation, monitoring and carbon accounting. The parallel growth in BNG unit markets, nutrient mitigation schemes and nature‑based carbon credit demand across government, utilities and local authorities suggests that approaches to measuring and auditing biodiversity gain and climate impact are starting to align.
As more tenders link Environmental Impact Assessments, biodiversity monitoring and carbon markets, National Grid's Biodiversity and Climate Solutions contract could become a reference point for how energy networks balance legal compliance, climate commitments and nature recovery in future infrastructure programmes.
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