BioCredita is the biodiversity scope of the Ekos SD Programme. The unit type is Sustainable Development Units (SDUs) which are measurable and verified units created to fund and support projects aligned with the UNSDGs, allowing initiatives like biodiversity conservation or land protection to quantify their impact and secure financial backing through tradeable units.
The BioCredita programme focuses on UNSDG 6 (fresh water biodiversity), UNSDG 14 (marine biodiversity) and UNSDG 15 (terrestrial biodiversity) by breaking down the cost of protecting biodiversity (e.g., invasives control, rewetting wetlands, single species protection, ecosystem establishment and maintenance), into quantifiable units depending on the methodology applied. For example, the pilot project for the BioCredita programme (Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari) developed and validated a ‘habitat area’ methodology defined as 0.01 ha of biodiversity conservation management for one year priced at cost.
The project development process uses the Ekos-SD Standard and methodological guidance to create all project documentation and evidence of the benefits delivered by the project. Projects can be structured in one of two ways:
(1) Verified Cause Approach: Measured, reported and verified biodiversity conservation management. For example, invasive pest and weed control necessary to restore and protect biodiversity habitat. This approach is required to include biodiversity monitoring and demonstration of uplift in biodiversity metrics through time, but the biodiversity credits are issued based on the conservation management intervention.
(2) Verified Effect Approach: Measured, reported and verified quantitative beneficial change in ecosystem metrics (e.g., increases in number of species present) resulting from conservation management interventions delivered by the project. Projects have the option to migrate from the Verified Cause Approach to the Verified Effect Approach through time.
The Ekos SD and BioCredita approach also enables grant funders to structure their grant funding of a project as performance-based ex post financing, complete with all of the measurement, reporting and verification attributes associated with certification to the Ekos SD Standard.
The first project in the Biocredita programme is the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari project (see https://www.ekos.co.nz/sanctuary-mountain).
The project documentation for this project (and all future projects) can be found on the public view of the Ekos SD Registry: https://trusticateapp.ekos-sd.earth/pub/plugins/reg/ekos%20sd%20registry/org. More information on the BioCredita programme can be found on the Ekos website: https://www.ekos.co.nz/sdu-1. BioCredita SDUs from the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari project can be purchased here: https://www.ekos.co.nz/cognito-form-smm-buy-now
Note: The first Sustainable Development Units under the BioCredita programme were reportedly sold by Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in 2022 to Profile Group Limited – see https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2206/S00318/new-biodiversity-market-launched.htm. Subsequent sales have continued since then.
