Latest news with #BioCredita
Scoop
05-08-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Taking New Zealand Biodiversity To The World
Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari and Ekos are making history by launching New Zealand biodiversity and conservation into the global marketplace. This is the first time a New Zealand conservation project is trading biodiversity credits on an international trading platform. This provides direct access to global audiences, connecting the world to the incredible biodiversity outcomes for which New Zealand is renowned. Ekos CEO Sean Weaver says this is a milestone moment, not only for Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, but also for the future of conservation funding in New Zealand. "The need for conservation funding in New Zealand far outweighs the current resources available through traditional grants and philanthropic support. Biodiversity credits from the Ekos BioCredita programme offer a new pathway to integrate biodiversity conservation into the heart of the economy here and around the world,' he says. 'These biodiversity credits don't commodify nature. Instead, they represent the human resource and technology cost to look after it. Buyers are purchasing measured, reported and verified biodiversity conservation outputs in a performance-based system." Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari CEO Helen Hughes says being the first in New Zealand to connect international market platforms with the world-class biodiversity outcomes achieved by her team is in keeping with the innovative mindset that the sanctuary was founded on. 'The Sanctuary is the largest of its kind in the world, built just over 20 years ago with ambitious goals and innovative thinking. Today, our 1,000-year plan and our scale provide the opportunity to test new ways of doing things, including finding new revenue streams to enable the sanctuary to continue to deliver exceptional biodiversity outcomes,' she says. Weaver says that linking biodiversity credits to international companies is a positive step for New Zealand. 'Being able to trade on the international trading platform, ClimateTrade, opens the door to foreign exchange to help fund biodiversity conservation in a global biodiversity hotspot. This opportunity is made possible by our rigorous standard, third-party verification protocols, and blockchain registry system for biodiversity credit issuance and tracking.' 'This allows us to tap into a well-established global market where conservation-linked ESG targets and reporting are becoming standard practice. While biodiversity credits are still a relatively new concept here, the BioCredita programme enables New Zealand to align with international frameworks and attract investment from companies already familiar with these mechanisms', he says. Hughes adds that the goal is to connect with domestic and international markets that align with Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari's ethos and value environmental sustainability, social responsibility, productive partnerships and meaningful community engagement. Outcomes she says the sanctuary delivers on every day through its operations. 'By connecting to impact investors and values-based buyers—both here and abroad—we're not just funding conservation, we're shaping a future where nature and communities thrive together. This is not just a transaction; it's a shared commitment to delivering biodiversity outcomes at a global scale,' she says.
Scoop
28-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Country Life: Dollars For Nature – Can Biodiversity Credits Fix NZ's Conservation Woes?
Country Life: What are biodiversity credits and how can they work for NZ?, for Country Life If mud and dead things aren't your thing but you still want trees planted, pests killed and wetlands to flourish, you could pay others to do the hard slog through biodiversity credits. Not to be confused with carbon credits, they are a way for private investors and corporations to pay others to save the skink or clean up sludgy streams and, in so doing, meet the expectations of a company's increasingly green customers. A biodiversity credit market is something the government has been perusing for a few years now, given limited public funds to pay for the huge costs involved in protecting and restoring nature. At Fieldays this month Associate Minister for the Environment Andrew Hoggard said farmers and other landowners were already doing their bit to protect biodiversity and wanted to do more. 'Supporting voluntary nature credits markets is a chance for the government to show them the carrot, not just the stick. 'We want to connect those caring for the land with investors who support conservation.' This week, Christchurch-based business consultancy Ekos launched its own biodiversity credit scheme, BioCredita, where investors can purchase bundles of credits to fund nature projects, including Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, a fenced eco-sanctuary in Waikato. The project, covering 3363 hectares, costs $5000 daily to run and is hoping to fund operations through credits or units priced at $12 each, representing the cost of protecting one hundredth of a hectare. The first buyer, according to Ekos' chief executive Sean Weaver, is a window manufacturer 'who liked the idea of selling biodiversity-enriched windows'. 'They can't do much biodiversity conservation in the factory, but they can support a nearby project, which is what they've done,' Weaver told Country Life. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. The Ekos credits are measured, independently verified and registered, and the project monitored to ensure operators do what they say they're doing, Weaver said. 'We've built a standard called the Ecos SD standard, which defines all of the things you need to do in order to demonstrate the benefits that you're delivering. And then we've built a registry, a digital registry on blockchain technology, so that these units can be issued once they've been verified to the standard, and then they can be tracked and traced across.' Weaver stresses the credits, unlike carbon credits, are not for use to offset damage to the environment. The Maungatautari project is among several pilot projects which the government is hoping to learn from. Others include a Silver Fern Farms project and Te Toa Whenua Northland which is transitioning around 100 ha from exotic forestry to native trees and includes pest control on iwi-owned land. Foreign funding for local projects A voluntary biodiversity credit market is just another tool for companies, both here and overseas, which want to fund New Zealand's conservation efforts, according to Hayden Johnston, GM for the Natural Environment at the Ministry for the Environment. 'We know that in New Zealand, companies are spending in the millions of dollars each year to keep up with either their regulatory requirements or claims that they want to make about their brands. 'I think people see New Zealand as a … country that has high credibility in the international space, and I feel really confident that we could be creating some really high-end premium products or credits to be offered internationally. 'One of the key questions we've always had is, you know, who is going to buy these things, and what do they want to buy?' Ekos' Sean Weaver said his scheme ultimately wants to attract foreign revenue to New Zealand which is seen as a hotspot for biodiversity. 'Imagine going to Europe and lassooing, I don't know, 10,20,30,40 hundred million dollars worth of demand from big actors in those economies so that we can create a fire hose of money to point at New Zealand conservation interests. That's really the goal here.' Greenwashing, commodifying nature? But what about criticism the credits could be another vehicle for greenwashing – companies exaggerating or misleading consumers about their green credentials? The integrity of biodiversity schemes is key, given the world's chequered experience with carbon trading. Already critics are flagging concerns around the nascent biodiversity credit industry, not just greenwashing – but scaleability, distaste at the 'commodification' of nature and the risk of distracting governments from their funding obligations. Johnston said the government hopes to develop 'guardrails' by following the pilot projects' experience. 'Principles like transparency, so that the buyer knows exactly what they're buying; additionality, so that what they're buying is clearly an additional benefit from what would have happened otherwise; longevity, so that the action or the outcome will occur over a longish period of time.' A central registry for the credits is something they will be considering too, he said. Weaver describes credits as a variation on philanthropy. 'Are they commodifying nature? No, they're not. They're commodifying the human labour and technology cost to look after nature. So no nature is being traded in these credits.' It's not a goldrush Johnston said biodiversity credits could work well for farmers and landowners working collaboratively, say, in catchment groups, to fund things like fencing and pest control. 'One of the things I'm really keen we test is how you can do this in a way that is cost effective. 'We know that examples of projects that are using international verification, for example, can be quite costly, and we want to find ways to make this an available tool in New Zealand for New Zealand circumstances.' Weaver said the Ekos credits, which are tradeable, should not be seen as a goldrush, but essentially a form of sustainable financing. 'Everybody in the value chain, in our programme has to make a profit, but nobody is allowed to make a super profit, like an unjustifiable super profit. 'The main reason for that is that the end-user of biodiversity credits is buying a conservation outcome, and they want to be confident that they're funding the true cost of looking after the place, and not funding, you know, somebody's super profit that will help them just buy another yacht.' 'Projects still need to go out and hunt for buyers, and our system is a new net to go fishing for that money,' Weaver said. Learn more:
Scoop
28-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Country Life: Dollars For Nature - Can Biodiversity Credits Fix NZ's Conservation Woes?
If mud and dead things aren't your thing but you still want trees planted, pests killed and wetlands to flourish, you could pay others to do the hard slog through biodiversity credits. Not to be confused with carbon credits, they are a way for private investors and corporations to pay others to save the skink or clean up sludgy streams and, in so doing, meet the expectations of a company's increasingly green customers. A biodiversity credit market is something the government has been perusing for a few years now, given limited public funds to pay for the huge costs involved in protecting and restoring nature. At Fieldays this month Associate Minister for the Environment Andrew Hoggard said farmers and other landowners were already doing their bit to protect biodiversity and wanted to do more. "Supporting voluntary nature credits markets is a chance for the government to show them the carrot, not just the stick. "We want to connect those caring for the land with investors who support conservation." This week, Christchurch-based business consultancy Ekos launched its own biodiversity credit scheme, BioCredita, where investors can purchase bundles of credits to fund nature projects, including Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, a fenced eco-sanctuary in Waikato. The project, covering 3363 hectares, costs $5000 daily to run and is hoping to fund operations through credits or units priced at $12 each, representing the cost of protecting one hundredth of a hectare. The first buyer, according to Ekos' chief executive Sean Weaver, is a window manufacturer "who liked the idea of selling biodiversity-enriched windows". "They can't do much biodiversity conservation in the factory, but they can support a nearby project, which is what they've done," Weaver told Country Life. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. The Ekos credits are measured, independently verified and registered, and the project monitored to ensure operators do what they say they're doing, Weaver said. "We've built a standard called the Ecos SD standard, which defines all of the things you need to do in order to demonstrate the benefits that you're delivering. And then we've built a registry, a digital registry on blockchain technology, so that these units can be issued once they've been verified to the standard, and then they can be tracked and traced across." Weaver stresses the credits, unlike carbon credits, are not for use to offset damage to the environment. The Maungatautari project is among several pilot projects which the government is hoping to learn from. Others include a Silver Fern Farms project and Te Toa Whenua Northland which is transitioning around 100 ha from exotic forestry to native trees and includes pest control on iwi-owned land. Foreign funding for local projects A voluntary biodiversity credit market is just another tool for companies, both here and overseas, which want to fund New Zealand's conservation efforts, according to Hayden Johnston, GM for the Natural Environment at the Ministry for the Environment. "We know that in New Zealand, companies are spending in the millions of dollars each year to keep up with either their regulatory requirements or claims that they want to make about their brands. "I think people see New Zealand as a ... country that has high credibility in the international space, and I feel really confident that we could be creating some really high-end premium products or credits to be offered internationally. "One of the key questions we've always had is, you know, who is going to buy these things, and what do they want to buy?" Ekos' Sean Weaver said his scheme ultimately wants to attract foreign revenue to New Zealand which is seen as a hotspot for biodiversity. "Imagine going to Europe and lassooing, I don't know, 10,20,30,40 hundred million dollars worth of demand from big actors in those economies so that we can create a fire hose of money to point at New Zealand conservation interests. That's really the goal here." Greenwashing, commodifying nature? But what about criticism the credits could be another vehicle for greenwashing - companies exaggerating or misleading consumers about their green credentials? The integrity of biodiversity schemes is key, given the world's chequered experience with carbon trading. Already critics are flagging concerns around the nascent biodiversity credit industry, not just greenwashing - but scaleability, distaste at the "commodification" of nature and the risk of distracting governments from their funding obligations. Johnston said the government hopes to develop "guardrails" by following the pilot projects' experience. "Principles like transparency, so that the buyer knows exactly what they're buying; additionality, so that what they're buying is clearly an additional benefit from what would have happened otherwise; longevity, so that the action or the outcome will occur over a longish period of time." A central registry for the credits is something they will be considering too, he said. Weaver describes credits as a variation on philanthropy. "Are they commodifying nature? No, they're not. They're commodifying the human labour and technology cost to look after nature. So no nature is being traded in these credits." It's not a goldrush Johnston said biodiversity credits could work well for farmers and landowners working collaboratively, say, in catchment groups, to fund things like fencing and pest control. "One of the things I'm really keen we test is how you can do this in a way that is cost effective. "We know that examples of projects that are using international verification, for example, can be quite costly, and we want to find ways to make this an available tool in New Zealand for New Zealand circumstances." Weaver said the Ekos credits, which are tradeable, should not be seen as a goldrush, but essentially a form of sustainable financing. "Everybody in the value chain, in our programme has to make a profit, but nobody is allowed to make a super profit, like an unjustifiable super profit. "The main reason for that is that the end-user of biodiversity credits is buying a conservation outcome, and they want to be confident that they're funding the true cost of looking after the place, and not funding, you know, somebody's super profit that will help them just buy another yacht." "Projects still need to go out and hunt for buyers, and our system is a new net to go fishing for that money," Weaver said. Learn more:
Scoop
24-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Biodiversity Credits Programme To Transform Conservation Funding In New Zealand Launches Today
Today, after four years of intensive design, testing, collaboration and verifying, Ekos, partnering with Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, are launching credits under their BioCredita Programme – a biodiversity market programme. Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari CEO Helen Hughes said that biodiversity credits are an innovative way to diversify revenue for the sanctuary, at a time when traditional funding streams become harder to find. 'We have been actively looking for ways to adapt how our funding is secured, in order to guarantee that the sanctuary is here for generations to come' she said. 'Consequently, we reached out to Ekos and they helped us develop biodiversity credits on their new BioCredita programme'. Ekos CEO Sean Weaver said that there is an increasing gap between the funding needed for conservation in New Zealand versus the funding available from philanthropy and/or grants. 'This is why we developed the BioCredita programme. Biocredtia presents a far greater opportunity to connect with more organisations and individuals that value world-class environmental and social outcomes.' Hughes says the credits are unique because they support completed conservation work, ensuring zero risk for buyers. 'Like a wine vintage, we're releasing the 2024 vintage of biodiversity credits — an innovative way to fund exceptional environmental outcomes' she says. Ekos CEO Dr. Sean Weaver explains that Ekos biodiversity credits don't put a price on nature, but instead put a price on the resources and technology required to protect it. The BioCredita programme ensures all credits are real, measured, additional, and independently verified to the internationally peer-reviewed Ekos SD Standard. 'It's a disciplined and transparent form of buying nature outcomes' says Weaver. 'And because the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari credits are issued by a registered charity, they're tax deductible.' Hughes adds that innovation like this has always been central to the sanctuary's mindset. 'This initiative allows the private sector to engage meaningfully in conservation while enhancing their social licence to operate,' says Hughes. Waikato-based Profile Group, a long-time supporter of the sanctuary, have been the first to adopt this ground-breaking programme by purchasing credits over the last three years—directly supporting the 3,363-hectare sanctuary. Mikayla Plaw, Executive Director, Sustainability at Profile Group, highlights the accountability built into the system. 'It's audited, third-party verified, transparent and takes a long-term view to conservation — exactly the kind of change we need to protect the future of our most precious eco-systems and critical natural environments.' Credits are now available through the Ekos website either as biodiversity credits on their own or bundled with carbon credits for voluntary carbon management:
