An Australian data services company on Wednesday announced the launch of a subscription-based nature certificate intended to help fund efforts to prevent plastic pollution off the coast of Sydney, but that can be extended to other locations globally.

Seabin, which has been involved in plastic and microplastic capture and removal using its current approach since 2019, made the Nature Certificates (NCs) available for subscription purchases by businesses and individuals, as a first such product associated with plastic clean-up in Australia.

The certificates on sale now are related to the company’s achievements in 2023, and the company stressed that buyers will be people or businesses wanting to contribute, not wishing to offset their impacts.

“There are no offsets, credts, neutrality, or nature positive involved, and the certificates are not related to any existing biodiversity, nature, or carbon credit scheme,” the company said.

In March and April, the company published “coming soon” posts on social media, drawing criticism for promoting a nature product without any information on methodology used, what each certificate represents, and so on.

A methodology document explaining those issues was published Wednesday.

“Seabin acknowledges that there may be criticism and challenges from peers, researchers, and other entities within the climate, biodiversity, and nature market sector,” said Seabin.

“For now, the NCs have been designed to be both accessible and understood by the wider market and have been created with the best and most honest intentions of Seabin in taking the first steps to commercially fund a nature project that [prevents and reduces] the amount of plastic pollution emissions or waste leakage entering into the environment.”

IMPACT UNITS

Seabin’s NC impact units are based on a mix of the 2023 value of its project certificate and its achievements during that year:

• Its 2023 Sydney operations holds a value of A$4.95 million ($3.2 mln), but given it saw A$1 mln in revenue for the year, that leaves A$3.95 mln of “project value available to purchase”
• In 2023, it filtered 9.25 billion litres of water, capturing 4.78 mln plastic items, of which 54% were microplastic
• Seabin then fractures this A$3.95 mln value into 3.95 mln A$1 impact units, with each of those representing the filtering of 3,737 litres of water and the capture of around two plastic items

In future years, each unit may represent a different amount of filtered water and plastic collection.

As well, project data will be used to support and create new or existing legislation, and policies or research related to preventing and reducing plastic pollution, Seabin said.

Individuals can subscribe to the certificates at a cost of A$13.20-49.50 per month, whereas interested businesses must purchase a bundle of at least 1,000 A$1 units.

Seabin admitted that its 2023 achievements are not independently verified, but said it is in talks with trust architect firm Pyx Global over a verification routine that they aim to be compliant with the UN Transparency Protocol.

It has a registry tracking the certificates in order to avoid double claims, but that is not public “for security and privacy reasons”. Authorised staff and an auditor have access.

BULLISH

Plastic credits took centre stage at the latest round of UN-led negotiations over a new plastic treaty that concluded in Canada earlier this week.

Credit standards like Verra and PCX Solutions are pushing for credits to be part of the global framework, while the Prevent Waste Alliance published minimum requirement guidelines on the sidelines of the talks in a bid to harmonise the emerging plastic credit ecosystem.

Given Seabin’s insistence it is not a regular nature credit, it is uncertain whether the company will join in such efforts. At the time of publication, Carbon Pulse’s approach had gone unanswered.

However, its documentation did refer to the Australian government’s work to establish a Nature Repair Market and said Seabin expects nature-related disclosures will in time become mandatory in Australia as the nature market evolves, as climate disclosures will be from 2026.

It also said that its fractional pricing model means its approach its scalable, both for an individual project and in terms of geography.

“Globally, hundreds of cities enjoy shorelines adjacent to marine estates, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Yet, each city suffers from plastic pollution levels that fluctuate depending on the population density, the available waste services, and various cultural factors,” Seabin said.

“We see our current impact scheme in Sydney as a single vertical case study in a future portfolio of nature project verticals.”

GREENWASHING

Minding the frequent controversies surrounding voluntary carbon and nature credits and the claims made around them, Seabin also included a section in its documentation on claims guidance.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been clamping down on perceived greenwashing over the past couple of years, and to reduce the risk of getting entangled in that, Seabin published a long list of phrasing and claims that can be made for those buying its certificates.

As well, there was a list of what investors can’t claim:

Source: Seabin

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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