European Commission released a roadmap this July, outlining their motivation and plans. Nature-credits, similar to carbon-credits, should reward (monetize) wildlife organizations efforts which are "currently go unrewarded" (quote of an EU parliamentarian).
I have recently attended a NetworkNature EU conference in Brussels where nature-credits was one of the hot topics. The crowd was more of a "suits" than "boots on the ground". There I've learned there are 2 camps of opinions - lovers and haters. The former support the idea of giving wildlife organisations an extra revenue stream and transparency (credits require strict audits), while the later dislike the idea of yet another convoluted financial-scheme that can go astray and become a brandwashing tool.
What is your take on it? I do realize majority of the readers are from USA and might be unaffected, but still.
P.S. I've spoken to a EU Commission member who is in the "nature-credits" team and he commented, that for the next 2 years the Commission's plan is to setup expert/test groups, and investigate to which extend the idea should be materialized - on voluntarily basis (philantrophy) or regulatory (like carbon-credits with industry required to keep their CO2 emissions in check).
19 September 2025 2:58pm
Great topic Eugene, for my phd research i have been drafting a blockchain token for this purpose. I think is terrible to monetize nature -further-, vectors of extractivism and even colonialism (i'm based in Colombia) but what other chances are there to really reach the people who live in the marginal communities who really are capable and responsible of preserving, those are the ones who should receive funds and help, not big NGOs or Goverments.
23 September 2025 10:00am
Hello. The idea of Nature Credits is a good way of encouraging and motivating conservation. May I ask, how could this link in with members of a society/general public e.g. through citizen science? Thanks :-)
Frank van der Most
RubberBootsData
24 September 2025 5:22pm
Thank you so much for starting this discussion Eugene! And for sharing the insights that you gathered at the NetworkNature EU conference.
Do you know how the Commission is going to setup the expert/test groups? It would be great if WildLabs members could somehow be involved.
Akiba
Freaklabs
26 September 2025 4:11am
I believe there are a few issues that are being grappled with in the nature/biodiversity credit initiatives that are being undertaken. One of them is the issue of fungibility, ie: for carbon markets, 1 ton of CO2 in the US is the same as 1 ton of CO2 in Bermuda. So the market can trade based on the principle of equivalency.
To offset biodiversity loss, you would have to deal with this equivalency. For example, would 1 hectare of tropical forest in Indonesia being lost to palm plantations be equivalent to restoring 1 river in the Mekong and saving 5 tigers?
There are currently a few biodiversity credit initiatives going on right now and I recommend you talk or attend the calls for them. The BCA (Biodiversity Credit Alliance) has regular calls and is quite open to new members. I was discussing some of the biodiversity credit issues with the head of BCA at a conference in Bangkok and he is very interested in getting orgs and people that are active and enthusiastic about pushing the market forward. It's a bit slow to take off at the moment as I understand it.
Hope that helps.
Akiba
Alejandro Duque