Ekos BioCredita

In short

New Zealand terrestrial and marine biodiversity credits, the first programme validated to the BCA / WEF / IAPB High-Level Principles.

What it is

Ekos BioCredita is a biodiversity credit programme operated by Ekos in New Zealand and built on the Ekos SD Standard. It enables terrestrial and marine conservation projects to raise funding, with each project using or developing an activity methodology that is independently validated to the standard and then verified through monitoring reports over a project period such as 30 years. Credits are issued as Sustainable Development Units on the Ekos SD Registry, and each unit represents a verified biodiversity outcome such as area of habitat protected or restored. The programme states it is validated to the High Level Principles of the Biodiversity Credit Alliance, World Economic Forum, and International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits.

What it rewards

The reward is a credit called a BioCredita Unit (BCU). One credit stands for one measured unit of biodiversity gain. A verified, nature-positive biodiversity outcome. A whole period of work is issued as one batch of credits at a time, in the same way a registry issues a batch.

What gets measured

To earn BCU credits, a project has to measure and prove a few things. An independent reviewer checks the evidence before any credits are issued.

• Habitat area protected / restored. Each unit represents a verified outcome such as area of habitat.

• Terrestrial species occurrences. Terrestrial projects monitor species presence/abundance.

• Marine species & coral condition. Marine projects add reef / coral condition monitoring.

• Monitoring-report verification. Verified through monitoring reports over a project period (~30 yr).

Who takes part

• Standard Registry. Owns the policy, approves participants, anchors each issuance to its evidence.

• Project Proponent. Registers the project and submits monitoring reports.

• Validation & Verification Body. Independently validates the design and verifies monitored data.

How it works

1. 1

   The project team registers the project and its plan.

2. 2

   An independent reviewer checks that the plan is sound and that the benefit is real and would not have happened anyway.

3. 3

   The team looks after the site and measures the agreed indicators over time.

4. 4

   The independent reviewer verifies those measurements.

5. 5

   Credits are issued for the verified result, and a buyer can retire a credit to claim the benefit once.