Biodiversity Credits
Biodiversity credits are an emerging mechanism to quantify and track biodiversity conservation and preservation efforts and outcomes. They are separate and distinct from carbon credits or carbon units. There is no universal agreement as to what a biodiversity credit represents. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) describes a credit as a unit of biodiversity that is being restored or preserved.
Whatever the precise definition, voluntary biodiversity credit markets are increasingly recognised as one mechanism that can drive financing toward the protection, regeneration and stewardship of biodiversity, and close the biodiversity financing gap. For example, Target 19 of the UN’s 2022 Montreal-Kunming Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) refers to biodiversity credits as a potential mechanism for mobilising financial resources globally.