A Netherlands-headquartered environmental company plans to develop its first nature credits under Verra’s Nature Framework in mid-2025 as part of a restoration project in Portugal, Carbon Pulse has learned.

Launched this year by nonprofit Rewilding Europe and mostly focused on the voluntary carbon market (VCM), Wilderway is piloting the framework on 1,000 hectares across three sites in the Greater Coa Valley in partnership with Rewilding Portugal, which owns the land.

The project will involve restoring woodland and wetland ecosystems, reintroducing and protecting semi-wild horse species, and enhancing landscape connectivity.

“Nature credits can really change how these areas are conserved and restored,” Timon Rutten, director of Wilderway, told Carbon Pulse.

“In Portugal, this kind of project relies typically on short-term funding such as public grants, subsidies, or philanthropic contributions. Through credits, we can ensure the area is restored and protected in perpetuity.”

Wilderway is in the process of developing the project design, with plans to finalise it by early next year, before registering the initiative with Verra between March and April, and generating the first credits by mid-2025.

UNCERTAINTIES

Verra, the world’s biggest private issuer of carbon credits, recently said it is on track to launch its Nature Framework towards the end of the year, following a consultation round arranged in 2023.

“The launch can boost confidence in the market, though there is a bit of uncertainty at the moment because some of the requirements are not there yet,” Nacho Martin Andres, head of credit development at Wilderway, told Carbon Pulse.

“They’re being built with our help and that of other project developers, but it will take some time.”

With Verra’s framework still under development, it’s not yet clear what a unit will be equal to, making it difficult for Wilderway as well as other developers to give estimates on credit pricing, according to Rutten.

However, he argued that transactions in the voluntary biodiversity market should be in line with the average of the VCM to ensure the sustainability of projects.

“The value of carbon credits in Europe stands at around €50, and the impact is between two and six credits per hectare. So you can end up with €100-300 per ha per year for a good carbon project,” he said.

“Unless nature credits are in the same range, the supply and the market are not going to fly.”

EYES ON DEMAND

Wilderway is considering launching a separate nature credit initiative in Spain, focused on restoring natural grazing and grasslands within the Iberian Highlands, though it wants to see first how the market evolves in the short term.

Rutten stressed the need for increased participation from corporates, as only a handful of companies globally have purchased biodiversity credits to date despite growing interest.

“We’re confident that nature restoration can be commercially attractive on a large scale, and we’re working with Verra to demonstrate it, but companies have the responsibility to help shape this space.”

Despite setting sight on the nature credit market, several carbon project developers cited the lack of corporate demand as a major concern, including Hawaii-based native forest restoration firm Terraformation.

The company is investigating applying Verra’s Nature Framework, with a big park in the Philippines among the sites under consideration, it told Carbon Pulse last month.

As well, Switzerland-headquartered Environmental Markets Fairness Foundation (EMFF) said it is in talks with Verra to launch two biodiversity credit projects in Argentina’s Atlantic Forest and the Gran Chaco.

By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com

** Click here to sign up to our twice-weekly biodiversity newsletter **