A Brazilian startup has finalised a biodiversity credit pilot project in a private rural area in the country, planning to publish its methodology focused on conserving and restoring endangered plant species in the next few weeks and make the first transaction by mid-2025, the company told Carbon Pulse.

Pale Blue Dot Environmental (PBD-E) piloted the initiative on 25 hectares within a 40-ha rural property in Bahia, Brazil, with the aim of funding restoration activities through the future issuance of biodiversity credits, dubbed ‘Brazilian Biodiversity Credit’ (Credito Brasileiro de Biodiversidade, CREDIBBIO).

The initiative focused on monitoring 91 ‘individuals’ of Cattleya tenuis, an endangered orchid species, through satellite images and field surveys.

Each credit will be equal to the protection of an ‘individual’ of the project’s target species for three years, with an estimated value of $220.

Designed with the provision of external audits, the project is expected to generate a value of $20,020 in biodiversity credits, Cezar Neubert Goncalves, PBD-E’s technical manager, told Carbon Pulse.

“The values were calculated by converting the field data matrix into monetary values, and included the farmer’s compensation for taking care of the plants and the environment in which they grow,” he said.

“The next step is to transform this value into tokens and make it available on the market.”

PBD-E told Carbon Pulse the company hasn’t selected a registry yet, as it is looking for a certification process operating with blockchain.

The Cattleya tenuis monitored in the Brazilian rural property. Source: Pale Blue Dot Environmental

SPECIES-SPECIFIC CREDITS

As Neubert Goncalves explained, CREDIBBIO is a species-specific credit, a type of credit that assigns value to biodiversity based on the presence of threatened species in a specific area measured through field surveys.

“According to Brazilian law, a plant in a specific area may be considered the property of the landowner, allowing endangered species to be treated as a financial asset for property owners and companies,” he said.

“Beneficiaries [can therefore] receive payment on the condition that they adopt measures to protect the plants and prevent any damage.”

Multiple credits can be issued for an area if there are different species at risk of extinction, he said.

As for the index, the methodology considers the presence or absence of an endangered species in a certain area, selected based on the Brazilian Official List of Threatened Species, which encompasses more than 3,000 species.

A unit represents the presence of a single so-called ‘individual’ of that species.

“Defining ‘individuals’ in plants is challenging, but we are working on defining the basis for this and will present it soon,” Neubert Goncalves said.

“This method requires the conservation of the ecosystem where the species is found, ensuring the survival of the individual, and taking measures to guarantee its conservation.”

A UNIT FOR ALL ECOSYSTEMS

“CREDIBBIO is a credit that can fit different kinds of endangered species and, therefore, can work in different areas,” Neubert Goncalves said.

While the methodology won’t be published until the end of August, the company has already ongoing negotiations with other landowners with the aim of issuing additional lots of credits involving different areas and other species.

“Although some regions in Brazil have greater biodiversity, our simulations showed that the distribution of plant species threatened with extinction is relatively consistent across different ecosystems,” he said.

“This means that, on average, the values generated for credits per protected hectare are very similar between each region.”

In the last few months, several biodiversity credit initiatives have been launched in Brazil, as the country prepares to host the G20 summit and the COP30 UN climate summit in 2025.

In July, Parana state announced the upcoming implementation of a legal regulation to offset corporate impacts on nature, making it the first state in the country to establish a biodiversity crediting scheme.

Other initiatives include the partnership between the Rio municipality, the UK-based Nature and People Foundation (NPF), and a Brazilian financial institution to develop an urban biodiversity credit programme and standard, and ERA’s methodology currently being piloted in Pantanal, Brazil with non-profit Instituto Homem Pantaneiro.

By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com

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