The European Commission has outlined its plan to develop a biodiversity credit system that would operate in parallel with the EU’s carbon market. This new market aims to encourage investment in habitat restoration and ecosystem protection by offering verifiable biodiversity credits.
The proposed framework is designed to help bridge the EU’s substantial biodiversity funding gap—estimated at €65 billion per year. With current public financing falling short, the Commission emphasises the need for stronger public-private collaboration to mobilise capital at the scale required.
To support this, the EU has pledged to direct 10% of its total budget to biodiversity by 2027 and to double international biodiversity-related spending to €7 billion. The new roadmap envisions nature credits as a complementary tool that can channel more funding into conservation and restoration efforts, especially in areas severely affected by pollution, agriculture, and urban expansion.
The system will borrow structures from existing carbon credit markets, particularly the EU’s Carbon Removals and Farming Framework (CRCF). According to the Commission, aligning with carbon frameworks can streamline development and reduce complexity. However, biodiversity credits will require customised methodologies to reflect the unique, site-specific nature of ecosystems and species diversity.
As the Commission document explains, biodiversity credits can reward activities not directly linked to carbon sequestration, such as restoring drylands or enhancing habitats for pollinators. These areas are bound to offer high ecological value.
Consultant Eve Tamme, an expert in carbon removal markets, sees increasing interest from carbon market participants in biodiversity credits. But she cautions that measuring biodiversity is far more complex than calculating carbon emissions. ‘Nature markets don’t have the equivalent of 1 tonne CO2 that is the foundation of carbon markets — a tonne is a tonne’, she said. She also urged policymakers to avoid creating parallel systems that could double the administrative burden.
‘It makes perfect sense to build on an existing CRCF framework... Europe should have one environmental certification scheme under which different types of activities can be quantified and certified, and credits issued’, Tamme added.
Stakeholders are invited to give feedback on the roadmap by 30 September 2025. Additionally, applications for a new expert group on nature credits are open until 10 September 2025.