Environmental management systems (EMSs) have become a public relations badge for many organisations. This paper proposes an overdue broadening of the EMS adoption spectrum from a well-established Environmental Impact Minimisation (EIM) paradigm towards an Ecological Impact Enrichment (EIE) paradigm which encourages proactive organisational responses towards an ecological positive gain such as an increase in biodiversity. Contemporary EMS processes are critiqued to develop a conceptual framework of how an approach to environmental performance management can be re-imagined towards being more ecologically holistic. Preliminary insights and endorcement from EMS professionals about the desirability and readiness for such a shift, alongside an acknowledgement of the potential constraints, is revealed. These reinforce a transition from a dominant EIM paradigm to a novel EIE paradigm which can be deployed at organisation, regulatory and policy levels. Practical implications of the transition include broadening the EMS remit and the deployment of organisational resources together with activities advocating proactive ecological preservation and positive business-nature interfaces. Regulators are required to acknowledge their responsibilities towards ecological conservancy and adjust their ‘reward-punishment’ approaches from minimising impacts on the natural environment to maximising ecological gains. Environmental policies at regional and national levels have to develop platforms and mechanisms that underpin and direct business support including funding, skills development and innovation to build the capacity for the paradigm shift.