Knowledge Exchange Fellowship to bring biodiversity science expertise to developing the first biodiversity credit standard
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Geography
Abstract
Biodiversity is the variety of living things - a simple concept that is remarkably hard to measure. This project is to work with industrial and third sector partners to develop the first biodiversity credit standard - core social, environmental and governance requirements biodiversity projects must meet to become certified.
Recent and upcoming legislation in the UK, EU and elsewhere is introducing greater requirements for organisations of many types to report on the effects of their activities on both carbon and nature. There is also rapidly increasing private-sector interest in nature conservation as part of corporate social responsibility, positive publicity and 'doing the right thing'. These trends, plus various natural capital impact assessment schemes being developed, are creating a large demand for biodiversity credits, but no biodiversity credit standard exists yet. Biodiversity credits, as with carbon credits, assign investable and tradeable economic value to biodiversity, for example allowing a landowner to raise finance (based on forecast biodiversity uplift) to fund nature conservation on her land.
The Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation's 2021 Conservation Finance report shows very rapid growth in private-sector biodiversity funding: from US$2 billion in 2016 to $18 billion in 2020. Remarkably, the report concludes that the growth rate could be considerably higher, but is held back by lack of appropriate methods for quantifying biodiversity. This was my starting-point. I recently got NERC-ESRC funding to provide a synthesis of methods to quantify biodiversity for potential use in biodiversity valuation and trading. The project starts February 2022. It should produce rigorous academic underpinning to enable a sound methodology for quantifying biodiversity uplift or loss, for use by people who are not biodiversity scientists but are working with, and certifying, biodiversity credits (e.g. investors, regulators, economists).
My Fellowship project is co-designed with stakeholders. It centres on a partnership between the Wallacea Trust, a conservation charity of which I am a Trustee, and Plan Vivo, a charity that certifies development projects. The two have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a biodiversity credit standard, and have already received a large amount of interest (see Beneficiaries). I am one of a 50-strong Biodiversity Uplift Methodology Working Group, meeting since mid-2021. I have now been selected as the only academic on a 10-person Plan Vivo Biodiversity Standard Working Group (BSWG), to start in 2022. Once the credit standard is operating, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be formed, and I have just been asked to Chair that. A key focus is to build diversity and inclusion into all aspects of developing and implementing the standard.
Once the standard is launched, I will work with my stakeholder colleagues to continuously improve it, and develop tools to supplement it. We have already produced v.1 of the Project Idea Note template, and invited 10 of the many interested organisations to use it to apply. Those first 10 project applications (from 8 countries in 5 continents; see Beneficiares) will be processed iteratively, learning from the experience to improve the credit standard and its workflows before full roll-out. The BSWG and TAC will be responsible for this work, so I will be at the centre of it.
Biodiversity is difficult to measure, especially in a repeatable, auditable way. The method we are developing for the credit standard requires field sampling and significant cost for project applicants. So we aim to develop tools to filter potential project sites to a short list: a 'triage system'. This will be a key project focus in later stages, once the first objectives are achieved. I will also be working on extensions to the standard, and determining what needs further research, to ensure the longevity of the standard.
Recent and upcoming legislation in the UK, EU and elsewhere is introducing greater requirements for organisations of many types to report on the effects of their activities on both carbon and nature. There is also rapidly increasing private-sector interest in nature conservation as part of corporate social responsibility, positive publicity and 'doing the right thing'. These trends, plus various natural capital impact assessment schemes being developed, are creating a large demand for biodiversity credits, but no biodiversity credit standard exists yet. Biodiversity credits, as with carbon credits, assign investable and tradeable economic value to biodiversity, for example allowing a landowner to raise finance (based on forecast biodiversity uplift) to fund nature conservation on her land.
The Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation's 2021 Conservation Finance report shows very rapid growth in private-sector biodiversity funding: from US$2 billion in 2016 to $18 billion in 2020. Remarkably, the report concludes that the growth rate could be considerably higher, but is held back by lack of appropriate methods for quantifying biodiversity. This was my starting-point. I recently got NERC-ESRC funding to provide a synthesis of methods to quantify biodiversity for potential use in biodiversity valuation and trading. The project starts February 2022. It should produce rigorous academic underpinning to enable a sound methodology for quantifying biodiversity uplift or loss, for use by people who are not biodiversity scientists but are working with, and certifying, biodiversity credits (e.g. investors, regulators, economists).
My Fellowship project is co-designed with stakeholders. It centres on a partnership between the Wallacea Trust, a conservation charity of which I am a Trustee, and Plan Vivo, a charity that certifies development projects. The two have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a biodiversity credit standard, and have already received a large amount of interest (see Beneficiaries). I am one of a 50-strong Biodiversity Uplift Methodology Working Group, meeting since mid-2021. I have now been selected as the only academic on a 10-person Plan Vivo Biodiversity Standard Working Group (BSWG), to start in 2022. Once the credit standard is operating, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be formed, and I have just been asked to Chair that. A key focus is to build diversity and inclusion into all aspects of developing and implementing the standard.
Once the standard is launched, I will work with my stakeholder colleagues to continuously improve it, and develop tools to supplement it. We have already produced v.1 of the Project Idea Note template, and invited 10 of the many interested organisations to use it to apply. Those first 10 project applications (from 8 countries in 5 continents; see Beneficiares) will be processed iteratively, learning from the experience to improve the credit standard and its workflows before full roll-out. The BSWG and TAC will be responsible for this work, so I will be at the centre of it.
Biodiversity is difficult to measure, especially in a repeatable, auditable way. The method we are developing for the credit standard requires field sampling and significant cost for project applicants. So we aim to develop tools to filter potential project sites to a short list: a 'triage system'. This will be a key project focus in later stages, once the first objectives are achieved. I will also be working on extensions to the standard, and determining what needs further research, to ensure the longevity of the standard.
Organisations
Publications
Ford H
(2024)
A technological biodiversity monitoring toolkit for biocredits
in Journal of Applied Ecology
International Advisory Panel On Biodiversity Credits
(2024)
Design criteria for high integrity measurement of biodiversity credits - Measurement Working Group report.
| Description | It is more about achievements than discoveries - this is a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship. It has paid for half my time, allowing me to pause many 'normal' activities associated with my job (particularly in 2024 and 2025) and spend a lot of time working with stakeholders to develop high integrity nature markets. These efforts have synergised with my activity on other funded UKRI projects, to maximise the impacts. Key activity includes: *Working as part of the Biodiversity Credit Alliance Task Force (supported by the United Nations), including leading its Theory of Change work and co-leading its Review Mechanisms working group. *Co-leading the Measurement workstream of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (supported by the UK and French governments) *Working on the current IPBES Monitoring Assessment (IPBES = Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) *Working with the Wallacea Trust (of which I am a Trustee) to refine and revise our Wallacea Trust methodology for measuring biodiversity change for finance purposes - this is now one of the leading methodologies in the world, thanks in large part to this Fellowship. *Creating and Chairing the non-profit company the Biodiversity Futures Initiatives, which helps to fill a need I (and others) identified, for a peer review system for biodiversity claims. *Advising a range of organisations on biodiversity finance and future priorities, including UKRI itself, Defra, the Scottish government and a wide range of stakeholder organisations. *Working with Indigenous leaders from Africa, South America, Asia and New Zealand to ensure Indigenous co-leadership as much as possible. Many of the details of the outcomes are reported via other projects (especially NE/X00208X/1, NE/X016315/1 and NE/Z503368/1. A few of the key ones to date are: *IAPB Framework and Design Criteria working paper *Biodiversity Credit Alliance High-Level Principles *Biodiversity Credit Alliance Review Mechanisms issue paper *Many presentations, webinars and participation in panel discussions, etc, both nationally and internationally, including at COP16 in Cali, Colombia. *Revised versions of the Wallacea Trust biodiversity credit methodology. |
| Exploitation Route | Much of my activity (describe above under 'achievements') has been working in international working groups, and with stakeholder organisations, to develop guidance documents, working papers and issue papers, and a methodology. I have also set up and Chair a non-profit company (spin-out of this Fellowship) that reviews biodiversity claims that organisations wish to make vis use of our Wallacea Trust methodology. The IAPB Framework and Design Criteria are important documents that are linked to the British and French governments, and are already proving influential in developing biodiversity credit markets. Similarly, the issue papers, High-Level Principles, etc, that I have been developing with the Biodiversity Credit Alliance are highly influential in shaping the developing markets and affecting behaviour - not least because this work is is backed by the United Nations. My work with the International Environment Guardianship (IEG), an organisation of Indigenous leaders representing all the key regions globally, is now leading to the formation of a new working group to move forward on weaving Indigenous and 'scientific' knowledge for the purposes of biodiversity finance, plus incorporating rights, data sovereignty and self-determination. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Financial Services and Management Consultancy Government Democracy and Justice |
| Description | An important result of my work with the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) is the set of BCA/WEF/IAPB High-Level Principles for high-integrity biodiversity credit markets. An advanced draft of these was launched at COP16 in Cali, Colombia on 23rd October 2024, and received very well. The document then underwent a further round of public consultation, and as of mid-March 2025 is being finalised for full launch. These principles are now influencing a wide range of actors and stakeholders in the young, developing biodiversity credit markets. The same can be said of the BCA Review Mechanisms issue paper, which I co-led, and the IAPB Framework (to which I contributed) and the IAPB's Design Criteria working paper (which I co-led). A key development associated with my work with the BCA concerns the Communities Advisory Panel (CAP), which was set up to ensure that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are fundamentally involved with the design and development of the biodiversity credits markets. This is now relaunching as the International Environment Guardianship (IEG), with a broader remit of nature markets, rather than only biodiversity credit markets. It is starting the process of launching a series of pilots around the world. The BCA runs monthly update events for with the BCA Forum, which consists of nearly 500 organisations internationally that follow what we do, and tend to adopt the principles and guidance that we develop. The Wallacea Trust methodology, for measuring biodiversity change for finance purposes, is now one of the leading methodologies in the world, thanks in large part to this Fellowship. The Biodiversity Futures Initiative, which I Chair, has now received more than a dozen proposals and claims to review. It is thus beginning to fill the need for validation and verification in the emerging biodiversity markets. This is a non-exhaustive list of highlights of impact from my Fellowship, so far! |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | Biodiversity Credit Alliance Task Force |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) has elements of think tank, community of practice and guidance provider (see https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/). Its mission is "1. Help steer the development of a biodiversity credit market by building a framework of high-level, science-based principles. 2. Provide guidance and encourage best practice for market participants on the application of these principles, empowering them to achieve and maintain equitable, high quality transactions that meet strict integrity criteria." It has also set up the independent 'Communities Advisory Panel' (https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/cap/), a self-governed group consisting of over 40 members of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities from the seven socio-cultural subregions of the world, aiming "to to ensure that the emerging market in biodiversity credits is founded on just and equitable principles, respectful of human rights and traditional knowledge, and recognizes and builds on existing capacity." The CAP has now morphed into the International Environment Guardianship, with an expanded remit to cover nature markets more widely, but still advising and working closely with the BCA. The activities of the BCA are done by its Task Force in conjunction with its Secretariat. It is supported by the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Environment Program - Finance Initiative, with these organisations employing the Secretariat. We (as the University of Nottingham) are one of the Task Force members (currently there are 18). Our knowledge products and outreach are widely known, and influence practice around the world. An example is that the Biodiversity Credit Alliance Forum currently has around 500 signed-up member organisations (see https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/governance/) - this Forum |
| URL | https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/ |
| Description | Biodiversity governance principles |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | This work fed directly into the development of High-Integrity Principles that are both key outputs of, and underpin the work of, the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB - https://www.iapbiocredits.org/) and the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA - https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/). The IAPB emerged from high-level liaison between the UK and French governments, and is a major influence on emerging biodiversity credit markets. The BCA was set up and remains supported by the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Environment Program - Finance Initiative, and is seen as a key think tank, best practice guide and community of practice globally. |
| URL | https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Biodiversity_Credits_Markets_Integrity_and_Governance_Principles_C... |
| Description | International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The IAPB Framework is now strongly influencing the biodiversity credit market development. The Design Criteria working paper has been particularly well received, and is also strongly influencing developments in nature markets. |
| URL | https://iapbiocredits.org |
| Description | Integrating Finance and Biodiversity for a Nature Positive Future |
| Amount | £3,021,258 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/Z503368/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2024 |
| End | 03/2026 |
| Company Name | Biodiversity Futures Initiative Ltd |
| Description | |
| Year Established | 2023 |
| Impact | The company has received around a dozen proposals and claims to review, so far. These are being done by the directors, to establish processes and principles. We have around 60 biodiversity experts from around the world who are signed up and ready to receive claims to review, if and when more come in. |
| Website | http://biodiversityfuturesinitiative.com |
| Description | BCA/WEF/IAPB High-Level Principles soft-launch event at COP16 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This event was the public launch of the draft High-Level Principles that we have been working on via our participation in the Biodiversity Credit Alliance, the World Economic Forum and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. The draft principles were very well received, and then underwent a public consultation. As of early March 2025 they are being finalised for hard launch. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.biodiversitycreditalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/BCA_High-level-Principles-to-G... |
| Description | Chairing session 'Building trust in biodiversity credits' at COP16 in Cali, Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Field was invited to Chair this panel discussion/debate session, entitled "Building trust in biodiversity credits: metrics, measurements and comparability". It was run as a side-event in the Blue Zone at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, 25th October 2024. It was sponsored by CAF, the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://youtu.be/s5Tn-dDpVkQ |
| Description | IAPB Framework launch at COP16, Cali, Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This was the official launch event of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) Framework and working papers. Our projects caused Profs Field and Schrodt from our projects to be Technical Co-Leads of the Design Criteria working paper, and also to contribute to the main Framework paper. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.iapbiocredits.org/framework |
| Description | IPBES Monitoring Assessment |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | One of the major assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The assessment gathers together experts from around the world. Nearly 300 had been put forward by their governments (in most cases) or professional institutions, and of these, just under 100 were chosen, via strict criteria. The work involves gathering evidence on biodiversity monitoring, for publication in 2026 or 2027 as a landmark assessment. Prof. Field was selected for a combination of his expertise, his NERC Fellowship and his leadership of the UKRI projects. The First Author Meeting for this assessment was in Montreal in November 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://www.ipbes.net/monitoring-assessment |
| Description | International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This is a high-level working group that has emerged from a UK-France governmental liaison. It operates as an independent and global initiative, bringing together expertise from all sectors, governments and IPLCs, and building upon existing initiatives to help significantly increase investment through high integrity nature markets. Prof. Field (PI) and Dr Schrodt (Co-I) are joint technical lead for the 'Measurement' workstream, which focuses on measuring biodiversity for this purpose - directly informed by our current NERC projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://iapbiocredits.org/ |
| Description | Invited presentation to the joint WEF/BCA Joint Workshop on Metrics and Measurement |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | PI Prof. Richard Field was invited to give the opening presentation for this, the first in a series of joint World Economic Forum-Biodiversity Credit Alliance workshops on biodiversity metrics and measurement, on 26th October 2023. The intention was to outline the current state of the art and steer discussion towards what was needed for the future. It was very well received, and attended by well over a hundred stakeholder organisations. It led to Prof. Field being contacted by a lot of interested parties, including an Indigenous People leader from South Africa, who has now applied to do a PhD at Nottingham on governance within biodiversity finance markets, as well as increasing links with the International Institute for Environment and Development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Joint workshop with the Biodiversity Credit Alliance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | We organised and ran, jointly with the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), an in-person Theory of Change Workshop in Zurich. This brought together our project and the BCA Task Force, focusing on achieving a high-integrity biodiversity credit market. The outcomes have been communicated to the BCA Forum, which includes more than 300 stakeholder organisations, and on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/biodiversity-credit-alliance_two-weeks-ago-bca-and-university-of-nottingham-activity-7157990117805088769-C1FP/) - a page with more than 2500 followers. The workshop has directly informed plans for the Integrating Finance and Biodiversity Phase II project (https://gotw.nerc.ac.uk/list_med_pi.asp?pi=94300), as well as the BCA itself and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.linkedin.com/posts/biodiversity-credit-alliance_two-weeks-ago-bca-and-university-of-nott... |
| Description | NERC Nature Positive Future scoping workshop, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Field was invited to participate in this event that aimed to identify priorities for UK research funding in the 'nature positive future' space. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentation to the B4B+ Club |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This was to present the Wallacea Trust's methodology for measuring biodiversity for finance, and the Biodiversity Futures Initiative's (BFI) ways of reviewing projects that use this methodology. The BFI is a spin-out of our projects. These things were well received and written up as such by the influential B4B+ Club (Full name: Business for Positive Biodiversity Club - see https://www.cdc-biodiversite.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/B4B-Club_Brochure_EN.pdf), which decided that they are valid and scored them well within their evaluation grid. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Smithsonian round-table event "Tropical Forests and the emergence of Markets for Carbon and Biodiversity" at COP16, Cali, Colombia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Round-table focused on Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification for carbon and biodiversity markets in tropical forests, organised by the Smithsonian. Small group, invitation only. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk at World Biodiversity Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a talk in a session on biodiversity finance at the World Biodiversity Forum (session full name: Biodiversity Finance for a Nature Positive Future: Innovations, Challenges, and Opportunities & Sustainable Finance and Biodiversity). There was a networking and informal discussion session afterwards, which demonstrated a lot of interest. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://wbf2024.abstractserver.com/program/#/details/sessions/25 |
| Description | Terrasos event at COP16 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This was an invitation-only event, which was a discussion of high integrity in biodiversity markets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | World Economic Forum, Davos meeting 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | On 17 January 2024, PI Prof. Richard Field attended the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He first participated in the invitation-only Biodiversity Credits event in the Earth room of the SDG Tent (~300 participants) and then chaired a session "Navigating the high-quality carbon ecosystem restoration market" at a side event in Davos (~50 participants). Both events were stimulating and provide pointers for developing biodiversity finance markets. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2024/ |