At a time when climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution converge into a global triple planetary crisis, the need for solutions that work in harmony with nature has never been greater. Against this backdrop, this coordinated global programme aims to accelerate the mainstreaming of nature-positive engineering (NPE).
Built around three connected pillars – evidence, capacity building and advocacy – the programme brings organisations already working on nature-positive infrastructure into one coalition, pursuing a shared roadmap and pooling evidence, funding and reach. The programme is jointly funded by GRID and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, and the secretariat is co-led by ICSI and WWF-US. Launched at Climate Week NYC 2026, the programme will run for 24 months. It will prioritise coastal development and protection, ports, land transportation (rail and road), and offshore renewable energy.
The programme builds on the 2025 Nature-Positive Engineering (NPE) Foresight Review, which was commissioned by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and led by ICSI. The foresight review highlighted the pivotal role of engineers in enabling the transition to nature-positive infrastructure, while also identifying critical gaps: fragmented approaches across sectors and regions; limited clarity on what NPE means in practice; an insufficient evidence base to support confidence, replication, and mainstream adoption; and the need to strengthen technical capacity.
Infrastructure investment over the coming decades will determine whether societies succeed in meeting climate and biodiversity goals. Without deliberate intervention, conventional engineering approaches will continue to degrade natural systems and increase long-term risk. The global programme to mainstream NPE therefore seeks to embed nature positivity as a core objective of engineering – alongside safety, efficiency, and functionality – requiring a transformation in engineering practice and education, supported by enabling regulatory and professional systems.
The foresight review explores the emerging field of NPE through an in-depth examination of three key sectors where engineering and natural systems interact significantly: coastal protection and adaptation; ports; and offshore renewable energy. The insights gathered aim to bring clarity, catalyse action within the engineering community, and support the safe, scaled adoption of NPE. Its findings and recommendations are designed to be relevant to all stakeholders involved in infrastructure development and transferable across all sectors.
It identifies ten guiding principles to support NPE implementation:
- Foster a mutually enhancing human-nature relationship
- Take a whole lifecycle approach to ecological impacts
- Deliver measurable nature improvements
- Recognise interconnectedness across scales and timeframes
- Co-develop solutions with communities and Indigenous Peoples
- Design multifunctional, regenerative systems
- Manage complex risks and trade-offs
- Address the climate-nature-health nexus through adaptive management
- Foster interdisciplinary collaboration
- Anticipate and manage potential unintended consequences
Relationship of NPE with existing concepts and approaches
What is nature-positive Engineering?
NPE refers to engineering practices that protect, restore, and enhance natural systems, delivering measurable gains for nature alongside societal wellbeing and need.
NPE challenges the paradigm by reframing nature as a critical ally and integral part of achieving human and planetary wellbeing. It is a systems-based practice that aims to deliver measurable gains for nature – protecting and restoring habitats, enhancing biodiversity, and strengthening ecosystem services. This approach recognises nature as infrastructure in its own right that provides essential functions such as water filtration, climate regulation, and coastal protection.
While sustainability has long been part of the engineering discourse, a shift is needed for simply minimising environmental harm (‘doing less harm’) towards proactively protecting, restoring and enhancing ecosystems (‘doing more good’). NPE supports this evolution by promoting a deeper, more intentional integration of engineering expertise with ecological principles in decision-making.
Programme objectives
- Build a credible, shared evidence base on how NPE performs across sectors and geographies
- Develop detailed case studies with the organisations already putting NPE into practice to demonstrate good practice and replicable approaches
- Create educational materials and CPD content that engineering faculties and professional bodies can adopt directly
- Partner with academic institutions and professional associations in priority regions to pilot and refine this content
- Support advocacy that gives engineers a stronger voice in the policy and investment decisions that shape infrastructure outcomes and to mainstream NPE by increasing visibility, credibility, and uptake
Expected outcomes
By the end of the programme, the coalition expects to have:
- A validated evidence-building framework, database and case study library that infrastructure practitioners can put to use
- Teaching-ready NPE content piloted in an academic setting and CPD pathways across several countries
- A clear pathway for scaling pilots into further institutions, geographies and, eventually, engineering standards and accreditation
- A growing community of practice and network of NPE champions carrying the agenda into professional bodies and policy forums
Get involved
ICSI is inviting academic institutions, engineering associations, industry partners and funders to support the programme.
Contact us at npe@sustainable-coalition.org.
