The story has been updated with more information and comments. A previous version of this article said it was the Bosque de Niebla-El Globo that has sold out its credits, but it is in fact Meta that has been sold out.
The Meta habitat bank in Colombia has sold out all its awarded 600 biodiversity credits, ensuring the area will remain protected for three decades, and is now seeking to expand.
The habitat bank was established in 2017 as the first of its kind in Latin America, with project developer Terrasos along with partners Rey Zamuro natural reserve, local communities, and IDB Lab implementing a project that has been generating biodiversity credits.
Each credit represents 1 hectare of the habitat bank’s area conserved for 30 years.
“This is a big milestone for biodiversity finance and demonstrates that the habitat banking model is viable and successful in Latin American countries. It is also one of the building blocks for a voluntary biodiversity credit system,” Mariana Sarmiento, CEO and founder of Terrasos, told Carbon Pulse.
The habitat bank is now entering into an expansion phase.
“We are expanding another 400 hectares [at Meta] and adding non-timber forest products, which will enable us to have a reach of 7,000 hectares approximately [for our] eight habitat banks,” Sarmiento said.
Among the companies that have acquired credits from the project to use towards their ESG targets are oil pipeline operators OCENSA and Oleoducto de los Llanos, Grupo de Energia de Bogota, transportation firm CENIT, and electric power transmission company ISA Intercolombia.
“We have become the chosen alternative for companies with very high ESG standards. This makes us extremely proud as we are achieving the ecological and financial outcomes that we planned for,” Sarmiento said in a statement.
Terrasos, which has been transacting its credits via digital trading platform Climate Trade, was one of the first projects globally to generate and sell biocredits.
In a recent report by BloombergNEF, which assessed the set-up of eight early biodiversity credit market initiatives worldwide, Terrasos’ methodology was described as “well-developed” though the analysts pointed out challenges with scale.
The company itself, meanwhile, is committed to habitat banks at suitable sites for the fledgling market.
“Habitat Banks are a solution to reduce transaction costs and maximise positive biodiversity results associated with environmental compensations by companies,” the company said.
“Habitat banks deliver long term rural development alternatives in biodiversity hotspots and thus provide appropriate business models for energy and economic transitions.”
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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