How do we finance biodiversity protection without repeating the mistakes of carbon offset markets? That question shaped the fifth BIO-CAPITAL Deep Dive, where Flore Bastelica of Carbone 4 introduced a financial tool designed to bring credibility and transparency into nature restoration: Biodiversity Certificates.

Unlike traditional offset schemes — where environmental harm in one place is balanced by restoration in another — biodiversity certificates shift the focus from compensation to contribution. Instead of paying to cancel out damage, buyers support projects that create measurable, verified ecological gains: restored wetlands, richer soils, healthier pollinator habitats, resilient forests. For a certificate to be issued, those gains must be additional, durable, and scientifically documented — improvements that would not have happened without the payment behind them.

Developing a Protocol for Real-World Use

Bastelica explained that BIO-CAPITAL is now developing a shared protocol to make this possible across the project’s use cases, from grasslands and agroecological farms to river corridors and wetlands. The work involves iterative testing, alignment across partners, and constant feedback from practitioners on the ground. The goal is not just to generate certificates, but to make sure they are trusted.

Trust matters, because carbon markets have shown how quickly credibility can erode. Over-estimating results, failing to account for ecosystem leakage, ignoring local communities, or allowing credits to sit in opaque private registries have all harmed confidence in nature-based finance. To avoid those pitfalls, the Deep Dive highlighted safeguards: rigorous measurement methods, independent auditing, transparent registries, and local participation in governance. A certificate, in this design, becomes proof of something real — not a promise on paper.

Certificates, Not Credits

This is also why Bastelica advocates for using the term certificate over credit. Credits are often seen as a right to pollute; certificates signal a verified contribution to nature. They can stand on their own, or complement other instruments such as green bonds, payments for ecosystem services, or insurance schemes — acting as evidence that biodiversity gains have actually occurred.

Momentum for such mechanisms is growing. The European Commission’s Roadmap for Nature Credits (2024) calls for new tools that align investment, regulation and ecological science. Through its pilots, BIO-CAPITAL is helping shape what that future could look like: biodiversity outcomes that are measurable, verifiable, investment-ready — and worthy of public trust.

We are thrilled to announce that BIO-CAPITAL will be attending the ESA Living Planet Symposium 2025, which will take place from 23–27 June 2025 in Vienna, Austria. This flagship Earth Observation (EO) event, organised by the European Space Agency (ESA), brings together scientists, policymakers, researchers and industry professionals to explore the future of EO technologies and their critical role in addressing global environmental challenges.

About the Living Planet Symposium

The Living Planet Symposium (LPS), held every three years, is one of the world’s largest Earth Observation conferences. It provides a platform for sharing scientific findings, showcasing innovative applications and fostering collaboration between institutions and countries. The 2025 edition will highlight the transformative potential of Earth Observation (EO) in advancing climate action, sustainable development and biodiversity conservation, making it the perfect stage for BIO-CAPITAL’s mission and work.

Presenting Research on Biodiversity Certificates

We are proud to announce that the paper titled Object-Based Assessment of Ecosystem Restoration Level for Biodiversity Certificates in Europe, written by Lisa Delvaux, Julien Radoux and Prof. Pierre Defourny, has been accepted for presentation at session F.04.08: Earth Observation for Nature Finance and Ecosystem Accounting.

🗓️ Presentation date: Wednesday, 25 June 2025

🕚 Time: 11:30–13:00

📍 Room: 0.49/0.50

This presentation will introduce a novel approach to quantifying biodiversity gains through object-based remote sensing, which has been tailored to meet the requirements of emerging biodiversity certificates. The aim of these certificates is to establish trustworthy, transparent and scalable mechanisms that support investments in ecosystem restoration, thereby aligning with the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The methodology uses Sentinel-2 data and machine learning to identify ecologically homogeneous landscape areas and group them based on land cover and abiotic characteristics. These clusters serve as proxies for biodiversity potential and are used to evaluate the impact of restoration projects through a combination of high-resolution image analysis (e.g. the detection of hedgerows and flower strips) and biophysical metrics. This integrated Earth observation (EO)-based approach supports the development of biodiversity certificates that are both science-driven and policy-relevant.

Visit Us at the Domino-E Stand

You can also find BIO-CAPITAL represented at the Domino-E stand at LPS 2025. While the two projects pursue different goals—Domino-E focusing on strengthening Europe’s Earth Observation infrastructure and BIO-CAPITAL advancing financial innovation for biodiversity restoration—they are connected through their shared communication partner, OIKOPLUS. This collaboration highlights the importance of strategic science communication in bridging the worlds of environmental policy, finance, and Earth Observation.

📍 Stand Location: F14, Level 0, Atrium of the Conference Centre

Whether you’re working on environmental finance, biodiversity monitoring, or EO technologies, we invite you to stop by, exchange ideas, and learn more about how BIO-CAPITAL is contributing to the transformation of nature finance in Europe.

Stay tuned for more updates from the LPS 2025 and follow us on our channels during the event week!