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COP16 TOP STORIES
International panel releases framework for biodiversity credit markets
An influential panel led by the UK and France on Monday released its long-awaited framework to steer and scale the development of high integrity biodiversity markets, advising against secondary markets transactions and ruling out the use of non-local credits for offsetting except for contribution purposes.
BRIEFING – IAPB framework unlikely to prevent international offsetting unless governments step in
Governments need to take urgent action to avoid perverse uses of biodiversity credits, including cross-border offsetting, as the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) believes its newly launched framework alone won’t be a sufficient safeguard, its co-chairs told Carbon Pulse.
Verra unveils nature framework, plans to list first biodiversity credits in April
Carbon crediting standard Verra on Tuesday officially unveiled its long-awaited nature framework for the voluntary biodiversity credit market, expecting to register the first batch of projects from April next year.
ANALYSIS – Cali talks hang in balance as nations struggle to advance toughest issues
Negotiators at the UN biodiversity summit in Cali scored some minor victories during the first half of the talks, but all the major issues remain deadlocked and will likely need ministers to put real money on the table next week to be resolved, according to experts.
Governments pledge $165 mln to GBF Fund
Eight governments on Monday pledged a total $163 million in new funding for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), taking the total amount committed to the fund to just below $400 mln, less than 2% of what developed nations have promised to contribute by the end of next year.
ANALYSIS – Who wants to talk about debt?
A spat on sovereign debt reform threatens to overheat talks at the ongoing UN biodiversity summit in Cali, as the UK and China have so far strongly opposed calls to address the issue in the final agreement, with potentially grave consequences on developing countries’ ability to effectively tackle the biodiversity crisis, according to experts.
COP16 MARKET NEWS
INTERVIEW – Biodiversity credits should be rethought as contributions to national strategies
A France-based organisation has published a market framework to align biodiversity credit projects with national strategies, enabling companies to claim their contribution to governments’ targets on nature, the co-founders told Carbon Pulse.
African organisation, German nature tech outfit to market $35 mln of nature units
Africa’s largest conservation organisation and a Germany-based nature tech company are set to issue 14,000 nature units, for a total value of approximately $35 million, generated through conservation projects across four African countries, Carbon Pulse has learned.
Biodiversity credit standard launches with focus on forest production landscapes
A Swedish consortium on Saturday announced a global biodiversity credit standard focused on production landscapes, with plans to establish an independent, non-profit standard-setting organisation within six months.
Air New Zealand first to pay into nature token pilot
National carrier Air New Zealand has become the first to pay into a nature-positive co-financing pilot that seeks to channel funds to community restoration initiatives on cyclone-ravaged Maori land.
INTERVIEW – South Pole launches habitat bank for Colombian biodiversity compliance market
Carbon project developer and biodiversity crediting entrant South Pole on Friday announced the launch of a restoration-focused ‘habitat bank’ in partnership with Colombian non-profit Salvamontes at COP16 in Cali.
Electricity company announces Colombian biodiversity credit project
A Colombian energy transmission company has announced its support for a small voluntary biodiversity credit project in Colombia with the aim of helping open up a market.
Global standard for biodiversity uplifts certifies first three projects
A global standard for biodiversity uplift has registered a first three restoration projects under its methodology.
Biodiversity credit company announces data partnership
A biodiversity credit project developer and a data provider have announced a partnership with the aim of scaling projects in countries across Africa, South America, and Europe, Carbon Pulse has learned.
OTHER COP16 NEWS AND INSIGHTS
BRIEFING – UN biodiversity talks fuel optimism for ocean track
UN negotiations in Colombia have led to “excellent progress” towards creating a new process for identifying key marine biodiversity areas, in a move that observers consider essential for achieving some of the most critical global ocean targets.
INTERVIEW – Bioenergy flies under the radar at biodiversity negotiations
Contentious government support for bioenergy could qualify as a subsidy harmful to biodiversity under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), but the topic could be sidelined entirely at COP16 by the focus on other agenda items, an NGO policy expert has told Carbon Pulse.
Brazil launches revised national plan to restore 12 mln hectares by 2030
The Brazilian government launched Monday a revised national plan for the recovery of native vegetation that reaffirms the country’s commitment to restore 12 million hectares by 2030.
Cali outcomes to mark watershed for UN plastic treaty, UNEP exec says
The ongoing Cali biodiversity talks could lay the groundwork for the success of the final round of the upcoming negotiations on the long-awaited UN treaty to address plastic pollution, the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) executive director told Carbon Pulse Sunday.
TNFD hits target of 500 adopters
A further 86 organisations have committed to report on their biodiversity impacts and dependencies under the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), bringing the total to 502 adopters with $6.5 trillion in market capitalisation.
TNFD building beta nature data public facility
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is set to release a beta version of a nature data public facility in 2025 to enable pilot testing with companies, in a bid to catalyse data funding, it announced on Saturday.
Almost 4 of every 10 tree species threatened, major assessment finds
Almost 40% of tree species covered by the first Global Tree Assessment released Monday were found to be at risk of extinction, with species at risk in 192 countries worldwide.
CSO letter with over 140 signatories calls for greater finance, protection for water and wetlands
A joint letter signed by over 140 civil society organisations (CSOs) and experts has laid out priority areas for promoting the health of water and wetlands, highlighting COP16 themes of finance and the nature-climate nexus.
EIB, WWF to provide early-stage funding for nature-based solutions
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the WWF on Tuesday announced they will collaborate to mobilise early-stage funding for projects to help adapt to climate change and stave off the biodiversity crisis.
Environmental consultancy releases global biodiversity metric
A Denmark-headquartered environmental consultancy on Monday released an open-access metric for measuring the biodiversity value of habitats on sites around the world, with potential applications in corporate disclosures as well as the emerging biodiversity credit market, the company told Carbon Pulse.
NA100 companies at early stage of tackling nature impacts
Most of the Nature Action 100’s (NA100) focus companies are in the early stages of addressing their nature-related impacts, but further action is needed across Indigenous Peoples’ rights, governance, and disclosure, the group has said.
Philanthropies put over $50 mln on table for high-seas MPAs
A group of major philanthropies on Monday announced they will contribute $51.7 million towards creating marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters under the UN High Seas Treaty.
MARKET
Finland to be first EU nation to set up voluntary biodiversity credit framework
Finland has become the first EU member state to announce plans to develop a framework for companies to invest in voluntary biodiversity credits that go beyond existing environmental offsetting provisions, in a bid to encourage companies to take nature action.
Significant market opportunity for biodiversity-centred agricultural carbon projects in LATAM, Caribbean -report
Carbon credit projects that centre biodiversity in the agricultural sector of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can attract broader investment and meet both climate and biodiversity targets, said a report authored by voluntary carbon market (VCM) proponents on Monday.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
ADB issues first biodiversity, nature bond
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday announced it has issued its first biodiversity and nature bond, with the 10-year issue being purchased by Japanese life insurance company Dai-ichi.
Non-profit targets raising up to $500 mln for sustainable materials fund
Canopy is planning to target raising between $300-500 million with a private equity fund tackling nature loss through investment in sustainable materials technologies, and seeks first close in the first quarter of 2025, Carbon Pulse has learned.
TOOLS & GUIDANCE
Data sufficient to get started on reducing nature impacts, guide states
Companies in the mining, property, and industrial sectors should have enough data at hand to take the first step to address their impacts on nature and biodiversity loss, according to a new guide for these industries published Tuesday.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
COP16
Payout – Norway will pay Colombia $20 mln for its work against deforestation, after deforestation rates last year fell to their lowest levels in 23 years, Climate and Environment Minister Tore O. Sandvik announced Monday. The payment follows the $10 mln Norway paid last year, and is part of a string of bilateral results-based payment arrangements Norway has with forestry rich countries in South America, Africa, and Asia.The minister made the announcement as he travelled to Cali to participate in the ongoing biodiversity COP16.
Cash on table – The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has channelled up to $100 mln in loans and credit to Ecuador’s Produbanco for sustainable investment purposes, it said Tuesday. Parts of the funds earmarked have been to be spent on projects that conserve, restore, and protect biodiversity and nature.
Peace – Colombia on Tuesday led the launch of the Peace with nature Coalition alongside 20 other countries, as leaders warned that the rapid destruction of the environment risks humanity’s own extinction. The coalition includes countries from four continents including Mexico, Sweden, Uganda and Chile, although none from Asia-Pacific. The coalition is open to countries that agree to a set of principles aimed at changing humanity’s relationship with nature, to live in harmony with the environment. (Reuters)
Helping hand – Japan has decided to contribute $500,000 over two years to the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), it announced Tuesday. The East Asian country has the biggest selection of companies among TNFD’s early adaptors, which now has surpassed 500 in total.
Mining for nature – Biodiversity needs mining, the Blended Capital Group, the Alliance for Responsible Mining, and the Capitals Hub Canada have argued in discussions at COP16. Alongside large-scale mining, there are 45 mln small-scale ‘artisanal’ miners working almost 100 countries, they said. The ‘artisanal’ sector is largely outside of formal economies, involving traditional community members who see mining as a way of improving their lives, the groups said in a press release. They deliver value for biodiversity through activities such as reforestation, the groups claimed.
Forest friends – On Monday, five countries – Germany, Colombia, the UAE, Malaysia, and Norway – expressed their support for the Tropical Forest Forever Fund, a global instrument proposed at COP28 in Dubai last year aimed at mobilising $250 bln to protect standing tropical forests in up to 80 countries. The ministers reinforced their commitment to continue the joint work to define the architecture of the mechanism, which will be launched at COP30 in Nov. 2025 in Belem. The facility seeks to mobilise the cash from existing resources as part of sovereign wealth funds and deploy them to pay for conserved tropical forests around the world. The initiative will make payments for each hectare of standing vegetation, with penalties for each hectare deforested or degraded, and will guarantee additional resources for the protection of biodiversity, traditional territories, and the maintenance of environmental services. Brazil’s environmental minister, Marina Silva, said the proposal is not intended to compete with other financing methods, such as carbon or biodiversity credits, but is instead intending to complement them.
MARKET
Double or nothing – BNG rules in England for developers are excellent in principle but flawed in their implementation, environmental economists have argued in a paper published in journal One Earth. They said the policy forces the majority of biodiversity offsetting to occur within or near development sites – instead of where it might most benefit nature. When offsets are in other locations, the conservation gains can be double, they claimed.
SCIENCE & TECH
Marine help – Australian government experts in partnership with Flinders University and the University of Western Australia have developed Reef Adapt, a tool designed to help marine managers and restoration experts to bolster the resilience of marine habitat-forming species. It harnesses genetic data from diverse marine species to map out areas likely to harbour populations adapted to current and future environmental conditions, a press release said this week. Users can also upload their own data.
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