The UK and French governments have taken a significant step towards conservation by announcing the UK-French Global Biodiversity Credits Roadmap.
This innovative plan is aimed at increasing the scale of the biodiversity credits market, thereby enabling a greater flow of finance towards projects contributing to nature recovery.
The rationale behind the collaboration is the necessity to accelerate activities beneficial to biodiversity. Biodiversity credits, akin to their carbon credits counterparts that focus on emissions reduction, allow companies to fund projects that yield positive biodiversity impacts. These could include the protection and restoration of diverse ecosystems like rainforests, oceans or grasslands. The credits not only measure the environmental action but also record its location and the project’s developers.
The UK, known for its commitment to ecological sustainability, and France, with its ambitious environmental strategies, are launching this roadmap during the Summit for a New Financial Pact in Paris. This summit aims to foster a financial system capable of addressing global challenges including climate change, nature loss, poverty, and catering particularly to the needs of developing nations.
A key part of the new UK-French roadmap includes providing a comprehensive plan to aid companies in purchasing biodiversity credits. Various initiatives will be put in place such as sharing best practices regarding credit funding governance mechanisms, monitoring regimes for ensuring biodiversity improvements, and ensuring fair income distribution to indigenous peoples and local communities.
Furthering their commitment, the governments have also revealed the formation of an advisory panel. This panel aims to pool together global experts to guide working groups on biodiversity credits.
The UK Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said, “Mobilising finance is key to meeting the global goals set out in the COP15 agreement. Initiatives like the Roadmap on Biodiversity Credits launched today will help ensure private sector financing is leveraged to conserve and restore nature.”
Adding to this sentiment, Dame Amelia Fawcett, co-chair of the UK-French Advisory Panel, expressed, “I am delighted to be asked by the Governments of France and the United Kingdom to co-chair this important and inclusive Advisory Group which will help the global community maximise the benefits to Nature, people and planet represented by biodiversity credit markets.”
Keep up with all the latest FinTech news here.
Copyright © 2023 FinTech Global
