Why biodiversity credits are moving up the corporate sustainability agenda

We look back at the insights from our recent webinar.

The corporate climate conversation has, so far, been dominated by carbon. Companies everywhere are racing to cut emissions, offset what they can’t avoid, and reach the elusive goal of net zero. However, as our ecological crisis deepens, businesses are starting to realise that reducing carbon emissions alone isn’t enough.

Nature itself - the forests, wetlands, grasslands, and species that sustain our lives - is under extraordinary pressure. Human activity has

altered 70% of the planet’s land

and two-thirds of the ocean, leaving ecosystems struggling to recover. Protecting and restoring these ecosystems is now becoming part of corporate responsibility. 

At Earthly, we recently relaunched our

Planet Earthly

webinar series with a deep dive into this very topic:

How biodiversity credits can fit into a sustainability strategy and provide real business benefits.

We were joined by

Nick Heasman

, Countryside and Policy Manager at the South Downs National Park Authority, and

Lorenzo Curci

, Earthly’s co-founder, who has been at the forefront of developing the UK biodiversity market. Together, they unpacked what biodiversity credits are, why businesses should care, and what challenges lie ahead.

At their simplest, biodiversity credits represent measurable improvements in ecosystems: restoring a meadow, rewetting peatlands, or creating habitat for pollinators. But unlike carbon, there’s no single metric.

“Carbon is relatively straightforward,” Nick explained. “It comes down to tonnes of CO₂. Biodiversity is far more complex. It’s multidimensional - it’s about species richness, habitat quality, and ecosystem functionality.”

In the UK, biodiversity credits are increasingly tied to the mandatory

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

policy, which requires developers to deliver measurable ecological improvements. That regulatory push is creating demand, with local authorities and landowners working together to restore habitats that generate credits.

Beyond BNG, other businesses can now purchase

voluntary biodiversity credits

in line with their climate and nature goals. These voluntary investments are a way for companies to go beyond compliance and actively contribute to restoring ecosystems, even when they’re not legally required to do so. They allow organisations to direct funding toward nature recovery in places that align with their values, operations, or supply chains, such as restoring wetlands near agricultural partners, or supporting pollinator habitats close to production sites.

For companies, biodiversity credits can feel like a new frontier. But, as Lorenzo pointed out, they are rapidly becoming part of the sustainability landscape:

“Investors, regulators, and customers are no longer satisfied with carbon neutrality alone. They want to see that businesses are truly nature-positive.”

The business case is compelling:

And, unlike carbon, biodiversity resonates emotionally with people. “Everyone understands birdsong disappearing or wetlands drying up - it’s tangible,” Lorenzo said. That human connection can make biodiversity credits more powerful in stakeholder communications.

One of the most important differences is

fungibility

. Carbon is global - a tonne avoided in Brazil equals a tonne in the UK. Biodiversity is inherently local.

“A restored wetland in Sussex isn’t the same as a rainforest protected in Borneo,” Nick noted. “That’s what makes biodiversity credits so place-specific and often so meaningful.”

For buyers, this means credits come with a story. Companies aren’t just buying abstract units; they’re funding visible change in real landscapes.

Nick shared how this works in practice. In the

South Downs National Park

, one of the UK’s largest national parks, the authority supports landowners and farmers to create

habitat banks

. These are areas specifically managed for ecological uplift, generating units that developers can purchase to meet biodiversity obligations.

“Landowners commit for the long term - often 30 years,” Nick explained. “Independent assessors measure the biodiversity gain, and credits are issued. But crucially, this isn’t just paperwork. It’s real change: wildflower meadows planted, hedgerows restored, wetlands revitalised.”

This approach brings multiple wins: developers comply with regulation, landowners are financially rewarded, and local biodiversity thrives.

While the UK’s regulatory framework is leading in Europe, biodiversity markets themselves are not new. Other countries have been experimenting with ways to value and trade nature for over a decade.

In Australia, the

BushBroker scheme

was one of the first formal biodiversity credit systems. It was created by the Victorian Government to help developers compensate for unavoidable impacts on native vegetation. Through BushBroker, landowners who protect or restore habitats can generate biodiversity credits, which are then purchased by developers needing to meet environmental requirements. The result is a functioning market that rewards conservation on private land and ensures biodiversity loss in one area is balanced by gains elsewhere.

In Latin America, biodiversity is often bundled with carbon and community benefits into what are known as

stacked credits

. These projects recognise that restoring nature rarely delivers just one outcome. Reforestation, for example, can capture carbon, restore wildlife habitat, and support local livelihoods all at once. By stacking these benefits, projects can attract diverse funding streams and provide investors with a more holistic environmental and social return. However, this approach also requires strong governance to avoid double-counting and ensure each benefit is transparently measured.

“Internationally, there’s a lot we can learn,” Lorenzo said. “How to avoid double counting, how to ensure permanence, and how to keep ecological integrity while meeting market demand.”

Lessons from other biodiversity credit projects will be crucial as the UK market grows and as more businesses look to biodiversity as part of their sustainability portfolio.

Both speakers were clear: biodiversity credits are no silver bullet.

“If we don’t get the governance right,” Nick warned, “biodiversity credits could repeat some of the mistakes we’ve seen in voluntary carbon markets.”

Despite the challenges, both Nick and Lorenzo emphasised the opportunity for businesses to engage responsibly. The path forward includes:

“Biodiversity credits are often more expensive than carbon credits,” Lorenzo admitted, “but that reflects their premium value. Businesses see them as high-impact contributions.”

The webinar

closed with a powerful reminder: biodiversity credits are part of a bigger shift. Businesses need to move beyond a narrow focus on net-zero carbon and toward a

nature-positive economy

.

“This is about embedding nature into business strategy,” Nick concluded. “Credits are one piece of the puzzle, but the bigger picture is how we value and protect the ecosystems that underpin our economies.”

Biodiversity credits are still emerging, but the momentum is undeniable. For businesses, they offer a way to:

For society, they provide new funding streams to restore and protect the natural world we all depend on.

At Earthly, we see biodiversity credits as a crucial step toward a truly sustainable future - one where businesses don’t just do less harm, but actively support nature.

Every business has the power to help restore the natural world.

Talk to our team

about how you can integrate biodiversity credits into your climate and nature goals. For a deeper dive, explore our

biodiversity projects here

, or watch our

expert-led biodiversity webinar

, which answers key questions about biodiversity credits, business value, and what’s next for nature markets.