**NOTICE: To mark Carbon Pulse’s 10-year anniversary and to better serve our subscribers with more targeted content, we are expanding and segmenting our news and intelligence into three specialised products. Read our FAQs to help you understand and prepare for our new offering.**
Presenting Biodiversity Pulse, Carbon Pulse’s free newsletter on the biodiversity market. It’s a twice-weekly summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. Subscribe here
TOP STORIES
Eco-Markets Australia launches cassowary credit market
An Australian environmental markets administrator on Thursday launched a new biodiversity market aimed at protecting and restoring landscapes in Queensland’s Wet Tropics region that are home to the cassowary.
INTERVIEW: More ownership rights clarity needed to shape biodiversity markets
Biodiversity credits must address ownership rights as a first step to be defined as high integrity, especially when it comes to marine environments, an expert told Carbon Pulse.
MARKET
Canadian developer plans ‘carbon-plus’ biodiversity credits
A Canadian developer of nature-based agricultural solutions is set to launch its first verified carbon offset credits — framing carbon sequestration as just one small piece of the credits’ larger benefits, which aim to prevent biodiversity loss and preserve ecosystems.
Accounting for Nature sets up committee to oversee biodiversity credit scheme
Australia-based non-profit Accounting for Nature (AFN) announced on Wednesday the establishment of an independent committee to oversee its biodiversity credit scheme.
Biodiversity markets need blended finance at scale -ADB, WWF
Blended finance needs to scale fast or biodiversity goals risk collapse, panellists warned at an event in Bangkok on Thursday, as the Asia Pacific struggles to build an investor ready nature project pipeline.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Federated Hermes to close biodiversity fund
US-headquartered asset manager Federated Hermes will close its biodiversity fund next month following the withdrawal of a shareholder.
TOOLS & GUIDANCE
Biodiversity metrics lack applicability in investment portfolios -report
Efforts to integrate biodiversity into financial decision-making are faltering due to unreliable data, inconsistent metrics, and a lack of ecological grounding, according to new research.
POLICY
INTERVIEW: Brazil’s tropical forest facility seeks to change deforestation economics
An initiative led by Brazil aims to develop a first-of-its-kind financial structure that funnels billions of dollars into the fight against deforestation, with a focus on local people.
Belgium encourages biodiversity credit development under national plan
Belgium has released an updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), encouraging the development of biodiversity credit markets to meet targets, but cautioning against the misuse of offsetting.
EU introduces country-based benchmarks against deforestation
The European Commission has published a benchmarking system that will accompany the EU’s anti-deforestation regulation, classifying countries according to their ‘level of risk’.
Argentine province launches ‘first-of-its-kind’ jaguar protection insurance
The local government of Misiones, Argentina, has launched an insurance policy aimed at protecting jaguars while safeguarding livestock producers across the province, in an initiative claimed to be the first of its kind in the world.
Kyrgyzstan announces major ecological corridor
Kyrgyzstan has announced the establishment of a new ecological corridor spanning 800,000 hectares – the largest protected area of its kind in the country as a measure to help snow leopards and their food chain adapt better to climate change.
PROJECTS
Bezos Earth Fund awards $1.2 mln in first round of AI climate, biodiversity innovation grants
The Bezos Earth Fund on Tuesday unveiled the recipients of 24 inaugural Phase I grants under its AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature, awarding a total of $1.2 million to support the development of artificial intelligence solutions targeting some of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges.
SCIENCE & TECH
Fires fuelled record global forest loss in 2024, report says
Last year saw a record surge in global forest loss, with fires overtaking agriculture as the main driver of tropical primary forest destruction, being responsible for nearly 50% of the total loss, according to a study published Wednesday.
Bottom trawling widespread in UK marine protected areas, NGO finds
Over 20,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling took place within the UK’s marine protected areas (MPAs) last year, despite government pledges to strengthen conservation efforts, according to a report released this week.
EU food imports highly exposed to climate, biodiversity risks -study
The EU’s imports of six key food commodities face significant environmental risks as they largely depend on climate-vulnerable countries with limited resources to adapt, according to a report released Wednesday.
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**NOTICE: To mark Carbon Pulse’s 10-year anniversary and to better serve our subscribers with more targeted content, we are expanding and segmenting our news and intelligence into three specialised products. Read our FAQs to help you understand and prepare for our new offering.**
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EVENTS
Ecology Calling events are returning with a morning of soil health and an afternoon of soil carbon on June 13. Join them at the Royal Linnean Society, central London to explore how to measure, conserve, and restore the subterranean realm. Register now, using the promotional code ‘pulse20’.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
MARKET
Blue carbon – A blue carbon initiative funded by the government of Japan, implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia, and backed by the ASEAN Secretariat Coordinating Task Force on Blue Economy was launched this week in Jakarta, with an aim to unlock regional climate finance. The ASEAN Blue Carbon and Finance Profiling initiative will help 11 ASEAN economies and Timor-Leste fully utilise carbon market opportunities in seagrass, mangroves, and peatlands ecosystems, according to a statement. (Carbon Pulse)
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Mind blowing – UK-based biodiversity net gain (BNG) marketplace Gaia has listed more than £1 bln of natural assets, a “slightly mind-blowing figure”, said co-founder Ben Askins on LinkedIn. The company offers off-site BNG units for developers to buy for offsetting their impacts on nature. “This shows a wider point – how the world of green and sustainability can provide a commercial return … It is also, with the US and the EU fumbling in this area, one of the biggest opportunities for the UK to establish itself as one of the leading players,” said Askins.
Knowledge is power lines – Sweden-based energy company Vattenfall has published a Biodiversity Transition Plan 2030, in the official launch of a strategy for the firm to address nature loss. The plan outlined Vattenfall’s contributions to the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, with a focus on minimising impact and working on restoration. It is developing nature-based solutions in areas including hydropower, offshore wind, and power lines.
In to win – Brazil’s agricultural sector’s 11% annual growth is driving deforestation in ecosystems like the Cerrado, endangering biodiversity, according to the World Economic Forum. However, solutions such as the Green Value Chain Taskforce, led by the Tropical Forest Alliance, demonstrate how agricultural commodities can be sourced sustainably. Moreover, sustainable intensification of agriculture could add $40 bln to Brazil’s GDP, creating a “win-win” for both the economy and the environment, it said.
POLICY
Halfway – A report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has shown that nearly half of the actions in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 have been completed. Major steps include expanding protected areas, introducing the Nature Restoration Regulation, and boosting tree planting. However, the report raised concerns over the poor enforcement of the bloc’s existing nature laws. Efforts should also be made to improve biodiversity data collection, it added.
Grants – The Irish government has allocated €2.9 mln in grant funding to support local authorities in implementing projects aiming to conserve and restore biodiversity across the country. A total of 262 projects were approved, covering invasive alien species control, bird and bat conservation, wetland surveys, and community biodiversity awareness and training. Funds will be delivered through the National Parks and Wildlife Service Local Biodiversity Action Fund. “Through these projects, each local authority will make a unique impact on their local biodiversity, but is also part of a bigger picture across the country,” said the Minister for Housing, Heritage, and Local Government James Browne.
New chair – Former Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) executive secretary David Cooper has been appointed as the new chair of the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the public body, sponsored by DEFRA, tasked with advising the government on nature protection. “After many years working at the international level, I am delighted to have this opportunity to contribute to nature recovery across the countries and territories of the UK,” he said in a statement.
Concerning water law – In a recent letter, 100 environmental groups in Costa Rica criticised the Integrated Water Resource Management bill currently under discussion in the national assembly. According to the signatories, the proposal would allow for the reduction of protected areas around water springs and aquifers, violating the minimum mandatory safeguards for these water resources. Additional concerns include a lack of clarity in water governance, uncertainty over specific rules on water allocation, and an absence of adequate climate adaptation measures.
SCIENCE & TECH
Recovering – China has seen an increase in the populations of over 200 rare and endangered species as a result of the country’s ongoing biodiversity conservation efforts, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. For example, the population of the Tibetan antelope grew to 70,000 individuals, up from 20,000 in the early 1980s, it said. Other species that benefitted from enhanced conservation measures include the wild giant panda, the Siberian tiger, the Amur tiger, and the Amur leopard.
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**NOTICE: To mark Carbon Pulse’s 10-year anniversary and to better serve our subscribers with more targeted content, we are expanding and segmenting our news and intelligence into three specialised products. Read our FAQs to help you understand and prepare for our new offering.**
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