Much like carbon credits, which are envisioned to guide funding towards the decarbonisation of numerous sectors or the preservation and restoration of carbon sinks, the concept of biodiversity certificates appears as a solution for allocating private funding to biodiversity protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agricultural land covers nearly half of French territory, making it a subject of close interest for the entire agricultural world. This is especially true as agriculture can have numerous positive environmental externalities, depending on the practices implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A biodiversity certificate or credit is a mechanism that attests to and therefore finances positive environmental actions, based on quantified and certified \u00abbiodiversity gains\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This allows for proof that an action on the ground has helped to maintain or improve the good ecological status of a given ecosystem or area. In agriculture, this could be the restoration of hedges, the planting of permanent cover, the re-establishment of a wetland, the permanent removal of pesticides, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term \u00abcredit\u00bb refers more to a logic of offsetting, as if by purchasing biodiversity credits somewhere, a company grants itself the right to have a negative impact on an ecosystem elsewhere (a credit signifying a debit cancelled out elsewhere).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term \u00abcertificate\u00bb is therefore more general and lends itself better to a logic of contribution: financing biodiversity gains without claiming to offset one's own negative impacts. This nuance is important, as Carbone 4 points out, for clearly defining the framework for biodiversity certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The model appears to be inspired by carbon credits in that it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main difference, and indeed the main difficulty, lies in the absence of a universal metric for quantifying biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is easy to assess a tonne of CO2 not emitted or sequestered using the globally shared CO2e indicator. However, a gain in biodiversity is difficult to harmonise between different territories or different activities. What is the equivalent of restoring a forest in Brazil, destroying a wetland in the Camargue, or establishing meadows in the North of France?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is also why experts considering the issue (Carbone 4, the National Museum of Natural History, the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity, among others) insist on the need to completely abandon the logic of compensation in favour of a logic of contribution. This would make it possible to avoid issuing credits that do not generate the claimed effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report Financing Nature<\/a><\/em> According to the Paulson Institute, the annual deficit to achieve global biodiversity goals is between $700 billion and $942 billion per year. The Kunming-Montreal Agreement<\/a>, however, adopted at COP15 in December 2022, sets the objective (target 19) of mobilising at least $200 billion per year by 2030, including a significant share of private finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, according to the World Economic Forum, more than 50% of global GDP depends directly or indirectly on biodiversity. And 72% of European non-financial companies rely on ecosystem services<\/a>, according to the European Central Bank. The question of nature financing is therefore more of a strategic and economic issue than an ethical one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 20 April 2026, CDC Biodiversit\u00e9 and the European Investment Bank (EIB)<\/strong><\/em>) made public their study on the biodiversity market<\/a>. Between 2022 and 2026, biodiversity certificates represented \u201cjust over five million dollars sold\u201dMartin Vaqu\u00e9, co-founder of Bloomlabs<\/a>, which is approximately 6,800 transactions worldwide for a total of 170 projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the trend is positive and the interest in this market is real, its growth has slowed down (with a rather low first quarter of 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its 2023 report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) was, on the contrary, quite optimistic about its market projections. In its most ambitious scenario, it anticipated a potential demand of up to 2 billion dollars by 2030, and up to 69 billion dollars by 2050. However, this scenario presupposes clear guidelines regarding environmental claims and the adoption of precise environmental objectives by the majority of companies, which is not yet the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the central question, and the one on which Carbone 4, the MNHN and the FRB have published the most in-depth analysis to date, in their study Biodiversity Certificates: Risks and Opportunities<\/a><\/em> (September 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The firm identifies 9 major risk categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why the oversight of biodiversity credits, particularly project monitoring, is paramount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there is currently no single methodology for biodiversity certificates, numerous initiatives have emerged in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A wide variety of practices considered to have a positive impact on biodiversity overlap with those that can be valued within the framework of the Carbon Label, particularly as \u201cco-benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among them, we find:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In France, several initiatives are working in parallel on measuring these biodiversity gains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Private international initiatives, meanwhile, are already well advanced in developing their methodologies. To name only the main ones, which are already active in certifying biodiversity credits, with an international target:<\/p>\n\n\n\n With regard to French regulations, the Green Industry Act of 23 October 2023 created the Natural Compensation, Restoration and Rewilding Sites (SNCRR)<\/a><\/strong>, a mechanism presented by the government as the first national biodiversity credit scheme. The implementing decrees were published in November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This device aims to facilitate and accelerate voluntary biodiversity restoration and renaturation operations, in order to mobilise public and private funding for these actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the predecessors of SNCRRs, the SNCs (Natural Compensation Sites), were conceived as instruments of regulatory compensation, rather than voluntary contributions like the private initiatives mentioned previously. Nevertheless, since the Green Industry Law, SNCRRs can be sold as voluntary contributions and no longer solely as mandatory compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These multi-functional sites allow for the generation of Offsetting, Restoration, or Re-naturing Units (UCRR), valid for at least 30 years, which can be purchased:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding agriculture (the subject that interests us!), agricultural plots located within an SNCRR could be subject to agreements with their operators for the implementation of biodiversity-friendly practices (hedges, ponds, pesticide removal, etc.). This is an opportunity for funding to keep an eye on. However, agricultural professional organisations remain wary of the risks of land speculation that could result from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CDC Biodiversit\u00e9 is the first organisation to have certified SNCRR sites. It has owned the Cossure site in the Crau plain since 2008, where it has rehabilitated 357 hectares of former industrial orchards into Mediterranean steppe. It is the first natural compensation site to have obtained ministerial approval in 2020, and all of whose units have since been sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A second site, the SNCRR of Cros du Mouton in the Var region, also supported by CDC Biodiversit\u00e9, was accredited in June 2024. These two sites generate UCRRs (Compensation, Restoration and Renaturation Units), with each unit corresponding to 1 hectare of land restored, managed and monitored for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, in March 2025, CDC Biodiversit\u00e9 signed a partnership with the European Investment Bank to identify the expectations of investors in the voluntary market and to support the emergence of the first voluntary biodiversity credits backed by SNCRRs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CSRD directive<\/strong> (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), which comes into effect in 2025 for the first companies concerned, integrates a specific standard for biodiversity: ESRS E4, on Biodiversity and Ecosystems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If biodiversity is considered material to a company via the double materiality assessment, it is required to publish:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please note that companies with fewer than 750 employees can defer the implementation of ESRS E4 by two years<\/a> on biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To the extent that a company has been able to identify its impact on biodiversity and choose concrete actions to implement within its value chain, it can also opt for contribution credits as a supplement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biodiversity certificates are therefore a good opportunity to come<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, CSRD relief<\/a> (February 2025 Omnibus Directive) delays the expected effects of reporting on demand for biodiversity certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the CSRD, biodiversity certificates can fall within the scope of several regulations or obligations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Si vous vous int\u00e9ressez aux cr\u00e9dits carbone avec un fort accent sur la biodiversit\u00e9, n’h\u00e9sitez pas \u00e0 nous contacter !<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nA burgeoning market, but slower growth than anticipated<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The debate between compensation and contribution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What agricultural projects and practices would be concerned?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The emergence of methodologies and frameworks for biodiversity certificates<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In France, initiatives are looking into the subject<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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International private methodologies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The French SNCRRs, for Sites of Natural Compensation, Restoration and Renaturation, a unique system in Europe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Regulatory framework for the SNCRR<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Operational implementation of SNCRRs: the case of CDC Biodiversit\u00e9<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The link with environmental reporting: standards that integrate biodiversity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
CSRD and biodiversity reporting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The ESRS E4 standard of the CSRD<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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What is the link to biodiversity certificates?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Links with other frameworks and obligations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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