ID235 Nature on the Board

The Idea

The idea is for university governance to adopt the ‘Nature on the Board’ governance model which gives the natural world a formal voice and vote in organisational decision-making, recognising Nature as a key stakeholder. Nature is deeply interconnected with other environmental issues including climate and provides a way of ensuring that sustainability is at the heart of decision making, particularly as the political consensus on climate weakens. 

By incorporating Nature in university governance models Keele can ensure that environmental considerations are embedded at the highest level of governance. This will shift organisational culture towards long-term thinking, and ecological stewardship ensuring that decisions consider the well-being of ecosystems and future generations. 

‘Nature on the Board’ acknowledges that Nature is a silent (but vital) stakeholder in the rooms where decisions are made and aims to shift governance models to give Nature a voice at senior levels of decision making. The Nature on the Board initiative provides guidance on different models for implementation (see below), including the potential for Nature to be integrated into Board (Council) structures through representation by a proxy. 

This initiative reflects a growing awareness of the implications of organisations’ activities on nature and the implications of nature loss on organisations’ activities.

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

This idea creates a formal mechanism to ensure that nature is embedded in core governance and decision making at the most senior level. Appropriate governance structures (including ensuring usually silent voices are heard) are essential to ensuring that sustainability is truly embedded in an organisation. Having a proxy who provides a specific ‘voice for nature’ avoids potential individual conflicts of interest with other considerations and provides a formal mechanism to give nature a voice in decision making. This is an example of cutting-edge sustainability governance and will demonstrate Keele continues to be at the forefront of organisational sustainability, not just through its energy systems but through the very core of senior governance in keeping with our large natural estate and supporting sustainability rankings and external reputation. 

How We Would Implement This Idea

‘Nature on the Board’ is an international initiative (supported by 'Lawyers for Nature') that provides tools and guidance on integrating Nature into senior governance structures. The initiative presents several models, which can be used as incremental steps represented as different levels of adoption below: 

Inspiration: Nature shapes organisational purpose, values, and decision-making culture, through leadership commitment and embedding in organisational purpose and identity through policy commitments, constitutional documents, mission statements, codes of conduct, and the questions people ask before making decisions, and public declaration of nature as a stakeholder embedded in mission documents and strategy. Nature shapes culture, not governance architecture. There is no formal seat, no proxy, no vote. This requires considerations of nature to be articulated in key university documentation, communications and decision-making processes. 

Advisor: Nature holds a formal consultation voice without a vote, formalising ecological input without restructuring decision-making authority but requiring the board to document and respond to advisory recommendations. An independent Nature Advisor/Ecological Advisory Council would need to be recruited/established, and their input sought, considered, and recorded as part of consultation and decision-making processes. 

Director: Creation of a ‘Nature proxy’. Nature holds a formal board seat as a ‘Nature Director’ represented by one or more human proxies with equal rights, decision-making powers and duties to other company directors. The would become operational through a member of the board (Council) with relevant expertise being recruited to the board to fulfil this role and act as a proxy for the natural world. This would require amendments to the University Statutes. 

The principles of ‘Nature on the Board’ could be embedded into development of the new Keele strategy itself. 

In 2022, Faith in Nature was the first company in the world to make Nature a Company Director and grant the natural world a voice and a vote on all business decisions, through representation by a proxy on the board. Other organisations have adopted or adapted similar principles. For example, the Natural Infrastructure Commission for Wales has appointed a ‘Nature Guardian’, while the Scottish Association for Marine Sciences appointed the Ocean to its board of trustees. Organisations that have adopted or adapted the model have seen shifts in how their boards operate, with more systems thinking, wider time horizons, asking deeper questions on interdependences and long-term stewardship, and challenging assumptions even when boards had thought they were already attentive to environmental issues. On these boards, nature has moved from being a background consideration to something explicitly present in the room. Some experiencing the benefits in their own organisations believe this will become a common practice in board governance in the near future.

What Success Would Look Like

Who sits at the table determines what gets decided and decisions can impact nature not just locally but around the world through global supply chains and global environmental impacts, and not just now but for future generations. If successful in developing ecological representation in formal governance and decision making this will: 

1. Lead to positive impacts on nature both locally on the campus and local area as well as linked to global supply chains 
2. Lead to a change in organisational culture ensuring nature and wider sustainability concerns are part of all decision making 
3. Ensure a robust process is established to embed Nature into senior governance and decision making, written into University Statutes, firmly embedded, lasting through changes in leadership 
4. Lead to a growth in organisations adopting similar structures with resultant positive impacts on nature, as a result of Keele’s leadership 
5. Lead to positive PR around Keele’s leadership of another aspect of sustainability 
6. Lead to organisational culture shift ensuring that Nature considerations are built into governance and decision making at all levels 
7. Engage a wide range of university staff and students interested in sustainability, supporting student and staff recruitment and contributing to a strong sense of purpose-driven community and belonging