Biodiversity loss highlights a growing gap between ecological complexity and traditional finance. This article examines how programmable finance—where payments are triggered automatically by verified environmental data—could enable scalable, outcome-based biodiversity funding, drawing on insights from a BIO-CAPITAL Deep Dive.
This article explores key insights from the BIO-CAPITAL Technical Day in Toulouse, examining how biodiversity in agriculture can be measured, valued and financed. It highlights practical tools, satellite-based indicators and financing schemes to scale biodiversity-friendly farming.
The fifth BIO-CAPITAL Deep Dive explored how Biodiversity Certificates can create transparency and trust in nature-positive finance. Flore Bastelica of Carbone 4 presented this new instrument as a credible alternative to carbon offsets, focusing on real ecological contributions rather than compensation.
The fourth BIO-CAPITAL Deep Dive explored how conventional financial tools can fund ecological regeneration. Isabel Reuss (ITASIF) presented green and nature bonds as scalable solutions to bridge finance and biodiversity.
Ecosystem services like clean water, fertile soil and flood protection are essential yet remain invisible in economic systems. BIO-CAPITAL’s third Deep Dive by AgroSolutions explores how Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) can change this by rewarding land managers who protect and restore nature.
Triple Capital Accounting (TCA) redefines what “profit” means by integrating nature and community into financial reporting. Presented by Diana Tomakh (GND Partners) at BIO-CAPITAL’s second Deep Dive, TCA adds Natural and Social capital to the traditional financial model, making ecosystems and human wellbeing visible on balance sheets.
Insurance can protect more than property—it can safeguard ecosystems. In the first BIO-CAPITAL Deep Dive, Ahmet Rasim Demirtaş from Agcurate BV introduced parametric insurance as a fast, data-driven way to support conservation.
BIO-CAPITAL links finance, policy, and remote sensing to redefine biodiversity’s value. Led by Oikoplus, the team uses clear narratives—like the zoo metaphor—to explain how geospatial analytics and financial tools can attract private investment for biodiversity protection.
Commentary by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hynek Roubík: For decades, biodiversity was seen as a moral and ecological duty, not a financial one. Now, as climate finance expands and sustainability enters boardrooms, the question has shifted from whether to invest in nature to how. Biodiversity urgently needs a viable business model.
In southwest England, the BIO-CAPITAL project combines wetland restoration with satellite technology to measure biodiversity recovery. By linking field data with Earth Observation insights, it turns ecological change into measurable — and potentially valuable — natural capital.
BIO-CAPITAL will be present at the ESA Living Planet Symposium 2025 in Vienna to present new research on biodiversity certificates.
For biodiversity finance to drive real change, it must be widely understood and trusted. BIO-CAPITAL’s Work Package 6, led by Oikoplus is developing a communication, dissemination and engagement strategy to bridge the gap between research and real-world impact.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
