Biodiversity credits measure the positive impact of nature conservation projects. They are quantifiable and tradable financial instruments that allow pricing biodiversity gains.

Once we start a conservation project, we select groups of species that are characteristic for the project area and measure their abundance. For example, for a project in a rainforest in Ecuador, these could be dung beetles, birds and mammals. We also select structural metrics, like for example canopy cover, and measure them as well. These metrics are a proxy for the overall biodiversity and integrity of our project area. During the course of a project, we periodically re-measure the same metrics to keep track of the changes in biodiversity over time: Has the number of dung beetles increased? Do we hear more birdsong? Is the canopy cover getting denser? From these changes, we calculate the number of biodiversity credits: A 1% increase in biodiversity per hectare equals one credit.

Once the biodiversity credits are calculated and priced, they are sold and traded via blockchain. This ensures traceability and transparency. Most of the revenue we get from sales is re-invested into the conservation project. This creates a self-sustaining system: We start a project, improve biodiversity, and re-finance the project through credit sales. This allows us to continue and expand the project, improve biodiversity at more sites, sell more credits, expand even further, and so on. In the end, one small initial investment in one of our conservation projects scales its impact considerably and protects our planet and its unique biodiversity!