Biodiversity Pulse on LinkedIn: The amount of private money committed to nature could help the total… (2024)

A France-headquartered nature-based project developer is piloting biodiversity credits in a large area in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, as it expects the first transactions to happen by the end of the year.Fronterra is developing the project in the Sierra del Divisor National Park in partnership with the national agency for protected areas (Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado - SERNANP) in a bid to implement control and surveillance, monitoring, and research in cooperation with local communities.Through this initiative, the company will pilot a scheme being developed by France-based Organization for Biodiversity Certificates (OBC).Juan Carlos Gonzalez Aybar, Fronterra's founder and CEO, told our reporter Giada Ferraglioni that the first units will be listed in the OBC registry and purchased by French prototype biodiversity fund Restore launched this year.Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/daH2PdCU

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Swedish company Qarlbo Biodiversity has revamped the methodology that saw a local bank last year pick up Europe’s first voluntary biodiversity credits, and announced five pilots.On Thursday, ecologist Martin Pilstjärna presented five pilots Qarlbo has developed in rural Sweden – four of them spanning a total area of 42.4 hectares, while the fifth covers a stretch of forest road, home to more than 50 species of butterflies, writes Stian Reklev. “We have chosen relatively small projects because the market is at an early stage, and we don’t quite know how big the buy interest is,” Pilstjaerna said.Qarlbo first hit the biodiversity market limelight last year, when its CEO Aleksandra Holmlund led a team at the Swedish University of Agricultural Studies in developing a methodology that saw Swedbank pick up 91 credits in a first-of-its-kind transaction in Europe.The methodology has been refined since then, partly in line with the approach taken by other initiatives globally to design methodologies and credit standards.Read and subscribe:

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Environmentalists are increasingly sounding the alarm over what they claim are destructive impacts of the global fish farming industry.Farmed fish accounts for a rising share of total fish production, with producers in countries like Norway, Chile, and Canada gaining economic significance and influence.The rapid growth means the industry is continuously looking for additional locations along the coast and in fjords to establish new farms, and is mostly granted permission by the government, even within Norway’s limited number of marine protected areas (MPAs).Government hesitance in imposing stricter regulations is seen as an illustration of the challenge ahead in meeting biodiversity targets."Norway claims that 44% of its ocean is kind of protected through fishery measures, which is absurd," marine ecologist Per-Erik Schulze at the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature (Naturvernforbundet) told our reporter Giada Ferraglioni."If you want to make a properly protected area, you can't have industrial fishing or bottom trawling happening inside those zones."Along with other organisations and NGOs, the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature is trying to push back against the industry by asking the government for more aquaculture-free zones.Read the article for exclusive comments from the Norwegian Seafood Federation (Sjømat Norge), Rachel Mulrenan of WildFish, Kelly Roebuck of Living Oceans Society, and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dtskA6Wd

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Crediting standard Verra is on track to launch its nature framework towards the end of the year with a number of adjustments following its recent consultation process.The company confirmed it will move forward with the concept of stewardship credits or certificates, after receiving what it said was strong support for the proposal in the previous draft to explore the credit type, writes Stian Reklev.“This proposed unit type, which is distinct from Nature Credits, would increase the financial viability of historically well-managed areas by rewarding successful, verified nature conservation and management outcomes based on the stability and resilience of ecosystems,” Verra said. It will likely only start developing the stewardship units in 2025, but said this year it would “explorepartnerships and approaching key stakeholders that could support the technical development of a pathway for nature stewardship”.Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/dUtQ9Rsa

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Regen Network Development PBC has announced the listing of 10,000 voluntary biodiversity credits generated by Colombian developer Terrasos.Verified by KPMG, each unit represents the protection of 10 square meters of conserved or restored ecosystems in the Colombian habitat bank El Globo for 30 years.Terrasos' units, called 'tebu', are outcome-based credits, which means that, beyond early investments, payments are only delivered once outcomes are achieved."Each of our credits is a positive and permanent contribution to biodiversity," Mariana Sarmiento, general manager of Terrasos, said during the launch event.To date, the Colombian company has released 20% of the credits related to the project, and plans to issue two other sets in the future, each accounting for 40% of the total, writes Giada Ferraglioni.Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/d724KkR9

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German companies wundertax and have purchased the first batch of biodiversity credits generated through a project aimed at protecting an endangered beech forest in the Sauerland region.Under the initiative, project developer Planted will ensure the areais conserved, while tech company Hula Earth will monitor ecosystem and specieshealth,and issue the biodiversity credits.Aunit corresponds to one square metre of land protected for 20 years, and a notarial contract signed with the landowner will ensurepermanency, Florian Geiser, co-founder and CEO of Hula Earth, told Sergio Colombo.Hula Earth's biodiversity creditsare intendedto enable companies to document their commitment to protecting nature while complying with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.Read and subscribe:https://lnkd.in/dR4TmfBc

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A France-based environmental company has started piloting a biodiversity credit methodology for nature conservation and restoration projects in Mexico, Carbon Pulse has learned.Nat5, created last year by the Franco-Mexican ecological engineering company ASES Ecological and Sustainable Services will test the methodology at three sites in the Mexican states of Durango, Oaxaca, and Chihuahua."Pilot projects will focus on habitat conservation, restoration of degraded areas, and monitoring of animal species population," 🌱 Guillermo H., CEO of Nat5, told Sergio Colombo."An initial piloting phase was carried out in smaller degraded areas in Spain, with the non-profit Life Terra Foundation, and France. Now we're seeking to apply our model to larger and more complex ecosystems."Under the methodology, approved by the certifier Bureau Veritas Group, one unit represents the conservation or restoration of a 100 sq. metres area for one year, with payments made at the end of each year.Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/ecp2iahU

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Investor interest in nature has ramped up in this year’s voting season, boosted by some of the first calls for standard-aligned biodiversity disclosures, with financiers hailing a surge in awareness despite rising corporate resistance.The overall number of nature-related proposals increased by two from the previous year, up to 20 in total, at some of the most influential companies in the world, according to analysis by Carbon Pulse across all filings.Five proposals related to biodiversity risk disclosure in line with standards were filed this year – up from zero during the 2023 season.However, as nature expectations have ramped up, so has resistance at some companies. This year has seen just seven withdrawals so far, compared with 15 last year. A withdrawal usually means the corporation has committed to some of the requests in the proposal following dialogue with investors.“Biodiversity proposals and commitments have become an overarching trend in 2024,” Elizabeth Levy of As You Sow told Thomas Cox.Read the story for interviews with Douglass Guernsey of Green Century Funds, and Mary Beth Gallagher of Domini Impact Investments LLC. Research using platforms of Ceres, Inc., PRI, and As You Sow. Read and subscribe: https://lnkd.in/einSM4ck

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