Conservation International has announced its intention to participate in the nature and biodiversity credit markets, outlining guardrails it will abide to, including refusing to sell units to fossil fuel companies and firms without zero deforestation targets.

The group, which runs nature-based projects in more than 100 countries, is involved in a number of carbon credit projects, and said Thursday it will also join the emerging markets for broader nature crediting, such biodiversity and stewardship certificates.

“We need to act on new ideas. Our team believes that high-integrity and equitable nature credit markets could turbocharge private-sector interest in conservation, build confidence in project outcomes, and drive more money to the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who protect so much of the world’s biodiversity,” CI CEO M. Sanjayan said in a statement.

“The market is expanding quickly, but there is a leadership vacuum. Conservation International has the know-how, experience and influence to answer complex questions of governance – and help ensure that methodologies are rigorous, the right enabling policies are in place around the world, and communities can fully participate in these markets and equitably share in the benefits.”

In a position paper on nature credit markets, CI outlined its strategy and principles for participation to ensure it will deliver net positive and lasting impacts for nature as well as for people.

That will include a preference for working with buyers that will prioritise retiring the credits they buy from CI in order to mitigate risks associated with secondary market trades, it said.

“CI does not support the use of nature credits from companies that undermine the [Global Biodiversity Framework] or Paris Agreement and related policies. For this reason, CI will not work on nature credits with companies where their majority business is fossil fuels,” the strategy said.

“In addition, if in a sector impacting forests, CI will only work on nature credits with companies that have timebound net zero deforestation targets.”

MITIGATION HIERARCHY AND OFFSETS

Whether or not to allocate the use of credits for offsetting or compensation purposes is a controversial subject in the fledgling nature market.

CI said it would work with companies intending to use the credits for offset purposes in certain circumstances, but only when they stringently follow the mitigation hierarchy, which requires them to first avoid impacts on nature, then reduce the extent of impacts, before regeneration or restoring as much as possible of those impacts.

“Currently, nature credits and their associated markets are not generally designed to enable effective biodiversity offset applications. Credits may be appropriate for offsets when they are specifically designed for these purposes, with sufficient safeguards and to deliver net positive outcomes,” the CI paper said.

“For this reason, CI would only consider credits for offset purposes where credits are designed, consistent with internationally recognised norms for biodiversity offsets including any regulatory or lender requirements (whichever is higher), to: follow effective application of the mitigation hierarchy; recognise there are limits to what is appropriate to offset …; enable net gain; and be feasible, comparable …, additional, equitable, and lasting.”

QUALITY

Not only imposing integrity demands on potential buyers, CI also outlined principles around the supply of credits, to which it said it will abide as it starts building a portfolio of projects.

Similar to several previously published integrity principles, CI’s was focused on fair and equitable partnership with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, effective governance, and long-term, positive outcomes for nature.

The market must also align with national and international policies and recognise the role of governments, it said.

Source: Conservation International

“There’s going to be a learning curve for this process no matter what, but we’re ready to monitor progress, learn and adapt our approach along the way,” said Chris Stone, CI’s vice president of long-term finance.

“Building a whole new type of market is a challenge but one that we are willing to take on to safeguard our fragile Earth and the people who depend on it.”

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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