The Environment: Biodiversity and Land Use

Biodiversity describes the variety of life on Earth, in terms of both the number of species and the ways in which they are linked. Defra describes biodiversity as: 'The intricate network of ecosystems, habitats and species comprising biodiversity provides the support systems that sustain human existence'.

In a more general sense, we could consider biodiversity to be the diverse mix and inter-relationships of:

• Flora – trees and plants
• Fauna – animals, birds, fish, insects and amphibians
• Habitats – the natural home of flora or fauna

EDF Energy can potentially impact on biodiversity in both negative and positive ways, and at immediate, regional and international scales.

The most significant potential impacts on biodiversity result from:

• our use of land – we have around 80,000 individual land holdings including substations, office buildings and power stations
• new infrastructure developments, such as onshore and offshore wind farms
• climate change.

More details about our approach to biodiversity management can be found in our Biodiversity Policy [PDF], which we developed in 2005 with input from the Wildlife Trust.

During 2005, we will develop a company-level Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) with an accompanying framework for identifying those sites most in need of a site-specific BAP. We will report on progress next year.

The company-level BAP will draw together all of the many initiatives we currently undertake. These include:

• creating and sustaining nature reserves, which our largest power stations, at Cottam and West Burton in Nottinghamshire, have done in partnership with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
• making available environmental sensitivity atlases for all operational areas. These show source protection zones, surface water courses, ecological areas and historic monuments. Electronic versions are being loaded onto our company-wide network mapping system NETMap
• leading the way in the use of soil micro-organisms to clean up areas of our sites contaminated with oil. The micro-organisms feed on the oil, breaking down into water and carbon dioxide.
• our recently-developed partnership with The Swan Sanctuary, based at Egham in Surrey. The aim of the partnership is to reduce the number of swans flying into overhead power lines. We have set up a system to record all reports of swans hitting overhead lines. These will be analysed to identify flights patterns and roosting grounds over time that could put more birds at risk. Every report will be investigated and, where possible, action taken either by fitting diverters to lines or by replacing the most at-risk sections with underground cables. EDF Energy has also donated a new veterinary ambulance to the charity.