An interactive entertainment company has purchased the first batch of biodiversity credits generated through a nature restoration project in the UK at approximately £50 per unit, Carbon Pulse has learned.
Candy Crush video game maker King has bought 543 biodiversity credits from a project seeking to restore low-quality arable cropland to broadleaf native woodland on an 800-hectare area in the South Downs National Park in Sussex, Southern England.
The site, which harbours over 1,000 species, is part of the UK’s first voluntary biodiversity credit scheme, launched in May by London-headquartered nature tech company Earthly.
Besides improving biodiversity and reconnecting wildlife corridors, the project intends to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce run-off and nitrate leaching at the site.
“There is a real appetite across the corporate sector to demonstrate first-class environmental integrity, meet national targets, and invest in the planet for future generations, and that’s exactly what voluntary biodiversity credits can deliver,” said Tim Slaney, interim chief executive at the South Downs National Park Authority.
“By purchasing voluntary biodiversity credits, we are taking a step towards biodiversity restoration and supporting the UK’s national goal,” added Vikki Leach, senior director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at King.
Earthly’s crediting scheme, the first of its kind in the UK, leverages the methodology developed by the country’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) for the biodiversity net gain (BNG) policy.
Under the framework, BNG units are broken down into smaller areas of nine square metres, which must be secured for 30 years.
The scheme applies to projects that have been assessed by Defra and verified for BNG units. Following a separate monitoring and verification process by Earthly, purchased credits are recorded on a ledger to avoid double-counting.
The project site. Source: Earthly
VARIABLE PRICE
Pricing is slightly variable as it depends on the individual BNG unit created per hectare that the credits sit within as well as the number of three-metre squares that it is divisible by, the company told Carbon Pulse.
“With the UK already ranking among the most nature-depleted countries, it’s great to see companies such as King taking a leading role in seeing how new mechanisms such as this can help support restoration,” said Lorenzo Curci, co-founder and CCO of Earthly.
Eligible activities within the crediting scheme include the removal of invasive species, water flow improvement, sustainable land management, tree planting, and the reintroduction of species.
Earthly said it has already started conversations with other companies looking to purchase biodiversity credits, as the scheme is set to expand, with new projects ready to be added in the next few months.
“We hope that over the long term, other businesses will start to account for their impact on nature,” Curci added.
Attention to the voluntary biodiversity credit market has ramped up after the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which carved out a role for nature-based solutions to help close the biodiversity financing gap, though transactions have yet to pick up on a large scale.
Last year, Stockholm-based Swedbank acquired 91 biodiversity credits generated through a forestry project in central Sweden, marking the first deal of its kind in Europe.
In May, German companies Wundertax and Emma & Noah purchased nearly 20,000 biodiversity credits, each corresponding to one square metre of land protected for 20 years, as part of a domestic forest conservation project led by developer Planted in collaboration with tech company Hula Earth.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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