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Nature-based credit markets at a crossroads

Nature Sustainability (2024)Cite this article

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Continuing to produce nature-based credits using dubious accounting methodologies will yield limited carbon and biodiversity gains. Establishing scientific credibility unlocks the potential of credits to meaningfully contribute to targets of the Paris and Kunming-Montreal agreements.

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Fig. 1: The crossroads for nature-based credits.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Balmford for his comments on the manuscript. We acknowledge the Tezos Foundation grant NRAG/719 (to T.S.) and the EU Horizon 2020 project SUPERB grant GA 101036849 (to S.O.S.E.z.E. and J.W.B.).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Tom Swinfield, Sophus O. S. E. zu Ermgassen.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Tom Swinfield & Anil Madhavapeddy

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Tom Swinfield

  3. Just Climate, Generation Investment Management, London, UK

    Siddarth Shrikanth

  4. Nature-Positive Hub, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Joseph W. Bull & Sophus O. S. E. zu Ermgassen

  5. Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Anil Madhavapeddy

  6. Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Sophus O. S. E. zu Ermgassen

Authors
  1. Tom Swinfield
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  2. Siddarth Shrikanth
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  3. Joseph W. Bull
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  4. Anil Madhavapeddy
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  5. Sophus O. S. E. zu Ermgassen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tom Swinfield or Sophus O. S. E. zu Ermgassen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Sustainability thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Swinfield, T., Shrikanth, S., Bull, J.W. et al. Nature-based credit markets at a crossroads. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01403-w

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