IFB Programme Leaders Franziska Schrodt and Richard Field have contributed to the newly released Framework for High-Integrity Biodiversity Credit Markets, published by the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB).
This Framework marks a key step in aligning biodiversity financing with meaningful conservation outcomes and ethical market practices. It underscores the importance of biodiversity credits that ensure verified outcomes for nature, uphold equity and fairness, and foster good governance in credit markets and provides guidelines for achieving this ambition.
Panel Co-Chairs Dame Amelia Fawcett DBE, CVO, and Sylvie Goulard, along with the Environment Ministers of France and the United Kingdom, officially launched the Framework at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, to a global gathering of experts and industry leaders.
Some key points within the Framework:
- Developing scalable, high-integrity biodiversity credits and markets is achievable at the necessary scale and speed.
- "High integrity" signifies outcomes that are verified for nature, equitable for communities, and governed responsibly.
- Recognizing the essential role of Nature’s stewards is crucial; their knowledge, values, and traditions should be upheld and respected.
- Biodiversity credits can facilitate measurable contributions to Nature goals, compensate for local biodiversity impacts under strict criteria, and support "insetting" within buyers' supply chains. IAPB explicitly excludes international biodiversity offsetting.
- Urgent, ambitious collective leadership is vital from all market participants to rapidly expand high-integrity biodiversity credit markets.
The Framework can be viewed and downloaded here.