The UK government is planning to launch a consultation to explore how the nascent international biodiversity credit markets can “mutually reinforce” existing carbon credit markets.

The Voluntary Carbon and Nature Markets (VCNM) consultation will open in the “coming months”, the government said in a progress update on its nature framework on Tuesday.

The consultation will combine questions on carbon and biodiversity credits, while responding to recommendations from the independent Committee on Climate Change and Net Zero Review, the government said.

Best use of the UK’s “domestic nature market infrastructure to support the growth of international biodiversity credit markets” will be explored by the outreach.

The VCNM “will consider how to position the UK as a hub for high-integrity voluntary carbon market services, building on existing capabilities in the UK financial sector and overcoming the current market impasse”, the government said.

The government will set out its intention to endorse the work of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).

“This will include proposing user-friendly guidelines for how credits should be used in corporate claims, as well as what further information is needed to provide assurance on the quality of credits used in those claims.”

The consultation will follow the results of another overseen by UK-French panel the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB), published last month, focused on biodiversity. The panel said it would launch another call for views this month, followed by a third outreach this summer.

The government reiterated on Tuesday how the IAPB aims to “support the scaling up of high-integrity biodiversity credit markets and encourage enabling policy and regulatory mechanisms to generate significant investments in nature conservation and restoration”.

Nature markets are “growing rapidly” in the UK, with a consultation on biodiversity credits powered by biodiversity net gain (BNG), nutrient mitigation, Woodland Carbon Code, and Peatland Code, it said.

The UK’s BNG legislation includes a requirement for businesses to use statutory biodiversity credits as a last resort in England, but the work of the IAPB looks to develop the concept of biodiversity credits internationally.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) is expected to publish the first iteration of a suite of nature investment standards later this month to “drive out greenwashing” while enabling investments in habitats.

These standards will include a robust domestic standard for nature-based carbon credits, in collaboration with the ICVCM, the government said.

Lloyds Banking has teamed up with government initiative Projects for Nature in a plan to fund projects on nature recovery, they announced Tuesday.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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