Back to insights

The route to high integrity biodiversity markets

  • Dr Nick Atkinson
    Biodiversity Strategist
  • Dr Sadadi Ojoatre
    Forest Analyst
  • Cara Howse
    Research Associate
  • Torrey Sanseverino
    Beyond Carbon Manager
  • Natural Capital
The global loss of biodiversity and habitats presents a challenge of similar magnitude to climate change. Protection and restoration are urgently required to restore ecological function, including the sequestration and storage of carbon. Financing ecosystem restoration is arguably its single biggest barrier: international organisations, national governments, and corporations are increasingly working together but the mechanisms to channel funding are currently insufficient. The growing interest in biodiversity markets could be a way to connect scalable finance to nature recovery.

Biodiversity credit producers will need to substantiate what is being claimed. Methodologies are beginning to emerge for project developers to adopt, but face significant technical challenges.

We discuss the development of biodiversity credits, methodologies and markets, and the aspects that will impact on objective ratings.

Here are some key takeaways from the report

  • Biodiversity is difficult to measure, presenting challenges to proving the environmental integrity of biodiversity credits.

  • Ratings agencies can encourage market transparency and quality of biodiversity credits by applying many of the same principles and risk factors that are used to assess carbon credits.

  • Biodiversity metrics will need to be clear, approved methodologies robust, and land rights strictly adhered to.

Contents

  • 01 Biodiversity loss is a global issue that needs to be addressed at multiple levels

  • 02 Maintaining environmental integrity in biodiversity markets

  • 03 The role ratings agencies can play in biodiversity markets 

  • 04 Next steps for biodiversity stakeholders 

  • 05 Conclusions 

Discover more

Access this in full, and many more insights from BeZero’s team of carbon scientists, as well as project information and headline ratings, for free.

New? Register here.
Register
Already have an account?
Log in