Buzzword of the month: Biodiversity Credits

Birds of the Wheatbelt - Crimson Chat (photographer Keith Lightbody)

A Biodiversity Credit is a liberally used word in the nature industry at the moment, but what actually is one and how do you measure it?

The Australian Government has partnered with technical experts and organisations like the CSIRO to nut out exactly how Biodiversity Credits will operate in our new Nature Repair Market so watch this space.

In a nutshell a Biodiversity Credit aims to turn nature into a quantifiable unit of measure that can be bought and sold.

Who would want to buy these credits you’re wondering? Well companies wanting to invest in nature.

Private businesses are increasingly compelled to offset the environmental impacts of their work while also seeking to create an edge for themselves by presenting as good corporate citizens.

The idea is that Biodiversity Credits can fulfill this need by creating a mechanism and an incentive for businesses to invest in nature.

Businesses who undertake conservation work can be financially rewarded for their efforts by selling their Biodiversity Credits.

Converting something as complex as biodiversity into something you can measure is a huge challenge. 

Biodiversity is the diverse and complex web of life that supports our planet and enables us all to exist.

US journalist Warren Cornwall has described the emerging Biodiversity Credit market as “like trying to buy a bag of peace”.   

He said in his article titled: What’s a unit of nature? And can it be sold in a biodiversity credit market? published on Anthropocene last year that unlike carbon credits, which are usually tied to a quantity of carbon or carbon dioxide, there is no single, agreed-upon unit to measure biodiversity.

Is the amount of a forest left untouched an adequate representation of biodiversity, or should it also include some key species?

If so, how do you decide which species? And if biodiversity can be reduced to a token, how does a token’s worth of biodiversity in a jungle equate to a token of biodiversity in a savannah?

Then there’s the challenge of monitoring changes in biodiversity to see whether these credits are really keeping their value on the ground. 

Wheatbelt NRM through their current restoration projects are aligning baseline measurements with emerging data requirements so that changes in biodiversity values and ecosystem services can be used for future verification .

A farm-scale economic model to look at how marketable biodiversity projects could integrate into climate-smart farming systems is also being developed by Wheatbelt NRM.

For further information on this project visit our Wheatbelt land-use paradigms - navigating new industries in the low carbon and natural capital era page.

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Published eNews #400, March 2025