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TOP STORIES
FEATURE: Critics demand debt-for-nature evolution after landmark Galapagos deal
The Galapagos Islands’ record-setting debt-for-nature swap was broadly applauded as a win-win-win for Ecuador, nature, and international financiers, but now a groundswell of critical voices is pointing to problems that must be avoided as nations queue up to strike similar deals.
Colombian habitat bank sells out biodiversity credits
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.
MARKET
Conservation charity lines up massive project pipeline for biodiversity market
UK-based Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is preparing a large number of projects protecting threatened tree species for the fledgling biodiversity credit market, expecting the first issuances before the end of the year.
Non-profit turns to crowdfunding to get marine biodiversity credit design over finishing line
A California-based non-profit has launched a crowdfunding campaign to finalise design work of a marine biodiversity protection credit standard, the first in a series if marine ecosystem credit classes it is planning to introduce to help scale ocean conservation finance.
Biodiversity offsetting scheme had limited-to-no impact, study finds
A scientific study evaluating the impact of one of the first established biodiversity offsetting schemes on native vegetation found it was not possible to conclusively demonstrate the policy had resulted in a net biodiversity gain due to limited data and the lack of robust impact evaluations.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Transparent Project releases world-first standardised natural capital accounting methodology
The EU-funded Transparent Project has published the Natural Capital Management Accounting (NCMA) methodology, providing corporations with practical guidance for environmental profit and loss (EP&L) bookkeeping.
Circular economy could relieve pressure on biodiversity worldwide -report
The circular economy can play a role in alleviating most of the pressure currently applied by the food, construction, energy, and textile sectors on biodiversity worldwide, according to a briefing by the European Environment Agency (EEA) published on Monday.
Coral Triangle nations eye new fund to back marine action plan
The six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative is launching a conservation fund with initial contributions from German development bank KfW and USAID to back its new action plan for marine protection.
POLICY
Biodiversity offsetting included as green investment in EU green taxonomy
The European Commission has included biodiversity offsetting in its taxonomy of what counts as a sustainable investment, despite the body advising the EU executive on green taxonomy rules recommending to leave it out.
“Not flower power”: ECB defends focus on economic threats from biodiversity loss
An executive board member of the European Central Bank (ECB) has defended the institution’s exploration of the economic impacts of biodiversity loss, arguing that understanding the threats is critical for the economy and “not some kind of flower power” exercise.
Brussels seeks to ease path for disputed EU nature restoration bill
The European Commission may be prepared to adjust its proposed Nature Restoration law (NRL) and reconcile with some legislators that have vehemently objected to the bill, an exploratory non-paper circulated on Thursday suggests.
MARKET
Making a splash – Australian-headquartered mining company BHP has picked three projects to support via its blue carbon grants programme to help drive emissions reductions and marine biodiversity and other co-benefits across Australia while also helping the development of blue carbon methodologies for the domestic carbon market. Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab, Indigenous-owned Tidal Moon, and James Cook University were the first three recipients of grants under the programme, which BHP launched last year. (Carbon Pulse)
Time for peat – UK tech companies ClimaFi and Terra Motion this week introduced the Peatland Protocol, a draft methodology for crediting emissions removals from restoring peatlands. The draft will be out for public consultation until July 10. ClimaFi specialises in digital, AI, and blockchain solutions for carbon credit issuances, while Terra Motion – a spin-off from the UK’s University of Nottingham – has developed a method for using satellite radar data to measure minute levels of ground surface motion across varying terrain types, including peatlands. (Carbon Pulse)
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Finding money – The IFC has agreed to invest up to $13 mln in the senior equity tranche in the Africa Conservation and Communities Tourism Fund (ACCT Fund). The investment aims to support ecotourism businesses in and around conservation areas in East and Southern Africa, with a focus on South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia. In addition to financing, IFC will also provide non-commercial risk mitigation and capacity building by supporting the development of climate guidelines that will contribute to setting standards for the sector and help operators improve their environmental performance by reducing energy and water use and improving waste management. With the financing from IFC and other investors, the fund has now reached final close with a total of $70 mln raised. (Africa Global Funds)
Partners – Spain-headquartered renewable energy firm Iberdrola and green group Birdlife International have entered into a three-year strategic partnership aimed at finding solutions to deploying renewables facilities that enhance the contribution to biodiversity. The two companies will have several working groups, exploring issues such as policy, nature positive energy, nature-based solutions, and knowledge exchange. In December, the Spanish company committed to having a net positive impact on nature by 2030.
New faces – The fund arm of Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has hired forestry expert Marc Palahi to be its first chief nature officer, as the environmental debate widens its focus from a relatively narrow fight against greenhouse gas emissions. A UN summit in December approved a first global deal to protect nature and regulators in Europe are increasingly pushing companies to disclose more about their impact on the environment and broader society as well as how much carbon dioxide they produce. Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) said Palahi, who joins from the European Forest Institute, was a strategically important hire and would be responsible for developing its sustainable investment unit holistiQ Investment Partners’s nature strategy. (Reuters)
Nesting – Insurance giant Aviva has hatched a new partnership with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), headquartered at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, for one of the UK’s biggest new saltmarsh creation projects. The funding will be used by the WWT to restore up to 250 hectares of vital conservation habitat, as well as protecting the property and wellbeing of communities nearby. A statement from the WWT indicated the money will be used to build on experience gained at WWT Steart Marshes, in Somerset. Aviva’s donation is part of a longer-term commitment from the insurer to invest £100 mln into nature-based solutions. (Punchline)
POLICY
New depths – Norway’s government is readying plans to open an area of ocean nearly the size of Germany to deep-sea mining as it seeks to become the first country to extract battery metals from its sea floor. The country’s energy ministry is racing to submit to parliament in the next two weeks a proposal to open the vast area to applications for exploration and extraction. The plan would then face a parliamentary vote in autumn. But Oslo faces a battle with fishing businesses and environmentalists over the proposals, and risks opening a dispute with other nations as it pushes to enable mining close to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic. Norway argues it commands exclusive mining rights over a larger area of water there than Russia, the UK, and the EU contend it does. (Financial Times)
Problematic – Indonesia and Malaysia have accused the EU’s anti-deforestation law of unfairly penalising small farmers, arguing that the regulation’s complex requirements will financially strain those least able to afford it – allegations the European Commission has rejected. Ministers from Indonesia and Malaysia travelled to Brussels late last month to raise concerns over the legislation with EU leaders, outlining the impact the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) could have on their respective economies. (EurActiv)
Not going well – England will not meet its biodiversity targets at current rates, the chair of Natural England has said, as he accused ministers of moving too slowly to regenerate nature. Tony Juniper, who has been in post at the government’s nature quango since 2019, said ministers were not on track to meet species abundance targets, which have been criticised by wildlife charities as “embarrassingly poor”. The government has set a legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and committed to increasing the abundance of wildlife by 10% by 2042 compared with 2030 levels. Juniper said: “We’re not moving with the speed that will be needed to meet the 2030 species target. And we’re going to have to work much harder to be able to do that.” (Guardian)
CEOs say yes – In Europe, the battle over the EU’s Nature Restoration Law continues. This week, 50 CEOs and executives from major corporations signed an open letter penned by Business for Nature that urged the bloc to uphold, strengthen, and enforce existing legislation to address the nature and climate crises. Among the signatories were H&M Group, Holcim, Mirova, Nestle, Rockwool Group, Schroders, and Unilever.
SCIENCE & TECH
Birdwatching – An initiative to speed up the detection and identification of bird species using AI could make biodiversity projects more efficient, enabling researchers to waste less time manually annotating recordings and spend more time marshalling their resources to save threatened species. The Australian Acoustics Observatory – or A20, a nationwide network of recorders – and the Queensland University of Technology have partnered with Google Australia to build a system that can process thousands of hours of recordings in minutes, and isolate the calls of specific wildlife. (Sydney Morning Herald)
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