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TOP STORIES

FEATURE: Biodiversity market participants applaud French-British initiative, but want space to grow

Early participants in the voluntary biodiversity credit market have welcomed the move by France and the UK to develop a global market framework, but stress the need for the government process to work with existing initiatives.

INTERVIEW: Biodiversity data startup aims to channel recent funding to fight ‘naturewashing’

A biodiversity startup using data analytics to try and scale investment in measurable nature positive outcomes, including via biodiversity crediting, plans to use a recent fund raise to grow out its platform, capture more species data, and expand its team in a bid to make ‘naturewashing’ a thing of the past.

MARKET

India to launch Green Credit Programme to meet broad environmental goals

India on Wednesday released draft rules for a market-based mechanism that will help the country meet a wide range of environmental goals by crediting activities ranging from tree planting and water conservation to waste management, air pollution reduction, and sustainable agriculture.

Australia launches crackdown on federal environmental offsetting

The Australian government will conduct a full audit of environmental offsets to crack down on developers shirking their responsibilities to protect nature, it announced Thursday.

PwC backpedals on report claims used to promote Australia’s nature repair market

Consultancy firm PwC has walked back findings from a report it wrote last year claiming a biodiversity market in Australia could unlock A$137 billion ($91 bln) in finance by 2050.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

GEF Council approves record spending on environment, begins talks on biodiversity fund

The governing body of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved the spending of a record $1.4 billion on accelerating efforts to combat biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, while its ongoing meeting in Brasilia has also begun discussions on designing the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.

AECOM releases biodiversity assessment metric for Singapore, eyes SE Asia roll-out

Infrastructure consultants AECOM have launched a metric for biodiversity assessment (BA) in Singapore to help calculate the impact on nature of site developments, and plan to expand the tool for the use of developers and civil servants across Southeast Asia.

Nature initiative targets eight sectors for action, outlines investor expectations

The Nature Action 100 institutional investor initiative on Monday identified eight sectors it will engage with on nature and biodiversity and released a list of actions it expects corporations in those industry to take.

Environmental trust, big insurer team up to restore UK saltmarshes

An environmental trust and a large insurance company have partnered in a landmark project to restore saltmarshes across the UK, aiming to leverage the natural climate-fighting capacities of these wetlands.

US non-profit releases paper to kick-start debate on nature-based currencies

California-based Open Earth Foundation on Thursday published a whitepaper outlining a potential system for integrating nature-based currencies (NBCs) into the broader economy.

POLICY

European Parliament committee rejects revised nature bill, moves to full assembly

The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) rejected its amended text of the disputed nature restoration bill on Tuesday by the narrowest possible margin, passing the divisive legislation onto an uncertain development in the full assembly.

MARKET

Split the money – The Scottish government has awarded a share of £4.5 mln to CreditNature, a firm which has developed a biodiversity data analytics platform. The startup will now use the cash to build a solution to support investments in nature recovery by measuring changes in ecosystem integrity, and assessing nature positive impacts and biodiversity related risk, with crediting the outcomes also to be involved. Scotland’s CivTech accelerator programme handed out the total £4.5 mln across eight projects. CivTech is a government run accelerator programme for digital public services, launched in 2016 to promote innovation into how the Scottish public sector uses technology.

Splurging – Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has announced it will spend another $400 mln to plant 200 mln trees by the end of the decade as part of its plan to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. The pledge, made under the AZ Forest initiative, represents around $60 mln in annual investments, with trees to be planted in Brazil, India, Vietnam, Ghana, and Rwanda. (Carbon Pulse)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Uphill battle – Only 35% of South African companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) recognise biodiversity as being material – this is according to the fourth annual Biodiversity Disclosure Project Ratings, which was first launched in 2018 by the Endangered Wildlife Trust). (Bizcommunity)

Land and sea – Japanese shipping company NYK Lines this week announced it has started a cooperation with the city of Gotemba in Shizuoka prefecture to revitalise regional forests. Projects are focusing on ensuring rich biodiversity by maintaining mixed forests under the idea that “rich forests nurture rich oceans”, the shipping company said. The initiative is part of NYK’s green strategy to address climate change and environmental issues.

No monkey business – Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife has assured the Court of Appeal that Toque Macaque monkeys will not be sent to China. The undertaking was given when a petition filed by environmental organisations against the alleged move to send 100,000 Toque Macaque monkeys to China was taken up. The petition had been filed by a total of 27 parties, claiming that reports have revealed that the monkeys are being exported to China for lab-testing purposes. Citing that such a move would constitute an act of animal cruelty while also defying the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, the petitioners have sought an order preventing the government plan to send the monkeys to China. (The Island)

POLICY

No deal – Russia and China have blocked attempts by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to create three protected marine zones in the Antarctic spanning almost 4 mln sq. km. The areas are home to penguins, seals, toothfish, whales, and huge numbers of krill – a staple food for many species. Beijing and Moscow have been key in blocking the expansion of a network of Marine Protected Areas in the region since it was first floated by Australia, France, and the EU in 2010 before being scaled down in 2017 in an attempt to win greater support. (France24)

Turning the tide – Colombia’s efforts to combat climate change through deforestation policies face a critical test, with a further 1.3 mln ha of forest at risk at being converted to agricultural land by 2040, according to a new report. The Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-use, and Energy (FABLE) consortium reviewed five policies introduced after 2010, finding there was some incoherency and recommended new policies be put in place to avoid an uptick in deforestation. (Carbon Pulse)

SCIENCE & TECH

Stark warning – Around the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing. Indeed, scientific studies have now recorded “regime shifts” like these in more than 20 different types of ecosystem where tipping points have been passed. Around the world, more than 20% of ecosystems are in danger of shifting or collapsing into something different. These collapses might happen sooner than you’d think. Humans are already putting ecosystems under pressure in many different ways—what we refer to as stresses. And when you combine these stresses with an increase in climate-driven extreme weather, the date these tipping points are crossed could be brought forward by as much as 80%. (The Conversation/phys.org)

Long way to go – Plants play a vital role in purifying water, regulating the climate, supporting biodiversity, and stabilising the soil. Or more simply put, vegetation holds the planet together. Because of this, international goals around preserving land vegetation have been set by the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention to Combat Desertification, and Sustainable Development Goals. According to new research published in the journal Conservation Biology approximately 79% of the Earth’s remaining natural vegetation – a minimum of 67 mln sq. km (26 mln sq. miles), or an area roughly seven times the size of China – should be protected to fulfill the goals set forth by the four UN resolutions. (Mongabay)

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