We launched Nature Sensor because the data gap was too big to ignore

Written by Alex McLean, Co-Founder and CEO, Alvéole

It didn't come from a roadmap. It came from conversations we kept having with clients.

Most had made real commitments to nature: beehives, native planting, green roofs. But when investors, certification bodies, and tenants asked what the impact actually was, they had amenities to point to, and no data to back it up.

For years at Alvéole, we worked on quantifying program impact: subscribers, participation rates. Biodiversity data was always the hardest piece. Where do you even start? What do you track, and for what purpose?

That gap bothered me the most.

Then TNFD gave us a framework. GRESB and other certifications followed. The answer became evident: use the hives and pollinator habitats already on site as sensors. Layer in bioacoustic sensors to pick up more of what's happening around the building. Tie it together with a platform that makes it visible, and measurable over time.

Here's how Nature Sensor was developed.

The problem with biodiversity commitments right now

Nature is having its climate moment. What we saw thirty years ago with carbon is happening now with biodiversity: compliance and reporting are shifting from voluntary to expected - with Norges leading the way and formalizing their Nature Expectations for their portfolio companies.

Meanwhile, 73% of tenants say access to green space near their workplace improves their wellbeing (JLL, 12,000 respondents). This isn't only an investor story. It matters to the people who work in these buildings too.

Most buildings are walking into these conversations with great nature amenities and no data. Organizations that can show actual, on-site biodiversity data are starting to stand apart — not just in GRESB scores or certification outcomes, but in investor confidence.

Nature risk in real estate is operational and measurable. The missing piece has been the tool to measure it.

What Nature Sensor actually does

A device is installed near your properties, capturing biodiversity activity 24 hours a day.

That data runs through our platform, which uses AI to identify species, cross-reference them against existing biodiversity databases, and filter out background noise. What comes out the other end is clean, interpreted data: which species are present, when they show up, how activity changes through the seasons.

Your sustainability team sees it in a dedicated dashboard. Your tenants see it in MyHive, our engagement platform. It’s a simple, visual experience that tells them what's living around their building right now.

At year-end, everything is packaged automatically for GRESB, BREEAM, LEEDv5, or whatever framework your portfolio works with.

What used to take months (manual collection, site visits, observation logs) is now automated, ongoing, and accessible in real time.

Beyond compliance

Yes, it makes GRESB easier. It supports BREEAM and LEEDv5. It gives you something real to say when an investor asks about biodiversity. That's reason enough on its own.

But what happens when tenants start engaging with the data is the part I keep coming back to.

When people see that their building detected a new bird species this week, or that pollinator activity peaked in May, something shifts. It stops being an abstract sustainability initiative and becomes something they're part of. We've seen buildings use this data to run tenant events, build seasonal content, and create a genuine sense of connection to the place where they work.

That's harder to put in a GRESB score. In a market where tenant experience and retention matter, it's worth paying attention to.

Who's already using it

We didn't launch Nature Sensor cold. We built it with partners who had reporting needs and deadlines.

A leading North American institutional asset manager is using it to feed continuous biodiversity data into GRESB reporting: a portfolio that already holds a GRESB 5 Star rating and full biodiversity assessment coverage.

A major European real estate investment manager is deploying it across properties where BREEAM certification is core to their acquisition strategy.

A prominent U.S. REIT, recognized in national media for its biodiversity work, is using it to support TNFD alignment and a tenant engagement program that reached over 3,000 people in 2024 alone.

These aren't organizations that experiment for the sake of it. They're deploying this because they see what's coming, and they want to be ready.

The simple version

Nature is already happening around your buildings. Birds are migrating through. Pollinators are active. The ecosystem doesn't wait for you to start measuring it.

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Nature Sensor gives you the infrastructure to capture that data, make sense of it, and use it - for reporting, for tenants, for investors, for certifications.

The buildings that can show this data will be in a different conversation than the ones that can't. We built this to make sure our clients are in the right one.

If you want to see what it looks like for your portfolio, feel free to book a call with me or the team. We'll show you exactly what's there.

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