Australian crediting developer GreenCollar Group expects the inaugural issuance of its world-first NaturePlus biodiversity credit at the end of next month, as the Australian government extends the consultation period on its nature repair market.

The company announced in November that it had developed a methodology for land management projects designed to protect ecosystems, habitats, and threatened species, with around 20 pilot projects up and running.

While the first issuance was expected early this year, a GreenCollar media spokesperson told Carbon Pulse Friday that the company now expects it to occur before the end of March.

Speaking at a panel discussion in Melbourne Wednesday, GreenCollar Group general manager Anjali Nelson said the NaturePlus programme was created as an effort to separate nature restoration efforts away from compliance markets, which she noted was focussed on compensating for damage.

“This new market is really talking about nature positive and net positive contributions, so how we look at reducing risk with corporates and business, but also generating a net positive repair market,” she said.

Nelson said there was “incredible opportunities” in biodiversity markets, but added it should be thought of as removed from the language of carbon markets, which she described as “technocratic” and “not necessarily holistic”.

“When we were writing the NaturePlus standard we were really careful not to be prescriptive around what kind of activities had to be done on the land to create change,” she said.

Nelson emphasised that GreenCollar was measuring the change that occurred through its crediting scheme, but noted they were leaving the way it was affected open so that there was space for things like indigenous knowledge to be applied on land.

The Australian government’s draft legislation for its nature repair market has faced criticism in some quarters for borrowing too much of the architecture and language of carbon credits in its formulation.

Earlier this week the government announced it had extended the consultation period for the draft legislation of its nature repair market by a week.

The Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy, and Water announced Wednesday it would extend the closing date of its draft legislation to Mar. 3.

A department spokesperson told Carbon Pulse that “a number of stakeholders requested more time to submit feedback”.

Experts have urged the government to take a cautious and rigorous approach to developing its biodiversity market, with one telling a webinar that other jurisdictions pursuing similar schemes were “sleep-walking into a giant greenwashing nightmare”.

Asked about the nature repair market’s development by Carbon Pulse, Nelson said the government “had a strong intention to do the right thing” in its development.

“It still seems to be formulating itself,” she said.

“We have to take our time, but also not stifle innovation too quickly.”

Nelson noted that a common thread in biodiversity markets will be about demonstrating change in environmental conditions, which she said happens at different speeds, depending on the region and biosphere.

“And so there’s going to be areas where markets can progress more quickly than others,” she said.

She added that it would be interesting to see how the market would respond to the government’s proposal to issue just a single certificate for each project, but would not elaborate further.

Other stakeholders have raised concerns that such a proposal would leave project developers depending on a single buyer purchasing the entire outcome of the project, which some say will likely push down prices.

Commenting on the recent media reports scrutinising carbon markets, Nelson said the debate needed to be reframed, arguing that in the Australian context, its vast landmass meant it would be too difficult for the government to invest in nature restoration on its own.

“It’s too big, too much land, too many industries, too many complexities for them to do it on their own,” she said.

“So I don’t think it should be a debate about whether we should have markets or not, I think this is a once in a life time opportunity to incentivise positive land use change in the country.”

By Mark Tilly – mark@carbon-pulse.com

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