A co-chair of the influential International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) has ruled out the possibility of using biodiversity credits as an international offsetting mechanism during an event at the Climate Week NYC, in a bid to quell persistent concerns.
Speaking on Thursday at the World Biodiversity Summit, Dame Amelia Fawcett pointed out that the advisory panel won’t back any non-local compensation schemes.
“The number one thing this panel has determined is that there is no such thing in the biodiversity credit space as an international offset,” she said.
“If a company operates for instance in Wales, it cannot get credits for something that’s been done in the Amazon.”
“When we talk about offsetting in biodiversity, we talk about the same ecosystems and boundaries.”
Offsetting in general is one of the most controversial concepts in the emerging market, as some experts have deemed it as a means to justify the destruction of nature by creating uplift elsewhere.
Biodiversity credits are often said to differ from offsets, by not implying harm to nature in another location while boosting ecosystems.
However, according to a survey released in June by IABP, many companies believe mandatory offsetting requirements would be critical for the biodiversity market to scale, with participants also recognising potential in contributions related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“We think that demand for biodiversity credits is real, built by a variety of drivers such as legislations, offsetting, risk mitigation in the supply chain, and contribution to meet their CSR,” Fawcett said during the event on Thursday.
“What’s lacking at the moment are standards, not demand. Once we have them, millions of dollars will be unlocked.”
Last month, co-chair Sylvie Goulard told Carbon Pulse that one of the outcomes of the IAPB’s initiative appears to be that several markets will co-exist and develop, reflecting the diversity of ecosystems, jurisdictions, and solutions.
IAPB’s work focuses on facilitating the growth of high-integrity biodiversity credit markets, also encouraging enabling policy and regulatory mechanisms. It has five working groups focusing on supply, demand, stewardship, governance, and measurement.
The initiative is being closely monitored ahead of next month’s COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, as it is expected to present a set of final recommendations with practical and actionable outcomes for the emerging market.
“We’re going to release principles that deal with many of the issues that were left on the table by the carbon markets, including fair rewards, benefit sharing, and the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local community since the very beginning of a project,” Fawcett said.
The panel will also launch 30 pilot projects worldwide to test their findings.
According to a separate survey by IAPB released last month, there are sixty projects with the largest up to 3.5 million hectares in size currently in development with the aim of generating biodiversity credits.
By Giada Ferraglioni in New York – giada@carbon-pulse.com
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