May 2024 Methodology Updates (1/n)

This article is an automatically translated version of the original Japanese article. Please refer to the Japanese version for the most accurate information.

sustainacraft Inc. Newsletter.

Methodology Updates is a series that addresses carbon and biodiversity credit methodologies. This article introduces updates regarding Verra's Nature Framework, which is a nature credit.

While "Carbon Credit" refers to credits where carbon benefits are the object of quantification, credits where biodiversity is the object of quantification are called "Biodiversity Credits." Verra, however, refers to these as "Nature Credits" (rather than Biodiversity Credits), and this article will cover updates on the Nature Framework methodology currently under development.

Compared to PVBCs (Plan Vivo Biodiversity Certificates), which are biodiversity credits from another carbon standard, Plan Vivo, Verra's Nature Framework initially gave the impression of being an easier methodology for monitoring. However, the recent public consultation seems to have received many comments advocating for more measurement of species numbers and population sizes.

Previous articles on biodiversity in this newsletter are largely summarized here, so please refer to them as well if you wish.

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Updates on Verra's Nature Framework

(link)

There have been updates regarding the Nature Framework, a Methodology for Nature Credits. The results of the pilot projects and public consultation conducted since last year have been published, and a revised draft (Nature Framework ver1.0) based on this feedback is scheduled to be released in the latter half of this year.

Here, we will provide an overview of **(1) Pilot Projects** and **(2) Public Consultation**.

The current draft of the Nature Framework is explained in this article. Concepts such as Condition Indicator and Reference Values, which are used in biodiversity quantification, will appear in the public consultation section below. Therefore, it is recommended to read the aforementioned article first before proceeding.

To briefly explain quantification, multiple Condition Indicators representing biodiversity are selected, and these are standardized against Reference Values to become the evaluation value at that point in time. The extent to which this value is greater than the Baseline is the subject for Biodiversity Credit calculation.

(1) Pilot Projects

There were 179 applications for pilot projects, and as a result, a total of 31 projects were selected as shown below. Africa had the most with 12 projects, followed by Asia and South America with 5 projects each. Tropical and subtropical forest projects accounted for half, while marine and savanna/grassland projects accounted for 19% and 16% respectively. Other projects appear to be temperate forest and shrubland projects.