Verra and leading conservation organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop a nature crediting framework to drive finance to high-integrity nature conservation and restoration activities. A standards-based crediting approach will enable entities to measure, track, and register units of impact. The resulting credits will recognize nature-positive impacts and will not be usable to offset or compensate for damage to nature.

The nature crediting framework and associated methodologies will also contribute to the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) goals and targets agreed to at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The nature crediting framework will be developed as part of Verra’s Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta) Program.

According to the GBF, an additional USD 700 billion is needed annually to achieve the CBD’s vision: “By 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and widely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.”

The nature crediting framework will help close this finance gap by channeling investment to impactful activities that (1) prevent the decline of biodiversity (e.g., through land use change), (2) restore it, (e.g., through coral rehabilitation), and/or (3) maintain intact ecosystems, (e.g., protected areas).

Signatories to the MOU include the Blue Nature Alliance (with support from McKinsey & Company), Conservation Finance Alliance, Conservation International, Great Barrier Reef Foundation, IUCN, The Biodiversity Consultancy, and Verra as independent standard setter.