The market for environmental credits for biodiversity net gain (BNG), carbon sequestration and phosphate offsets is often characterised as being similar to an unregulated “Wild West” with calls for it to be properly supervised and regulated to enable the private sector to have confidence in it and allow it to mature. In a move to address this, Defra and the British Standards Institute (BSI) have published the snappily titled “Nature markets – Overarching principles and framework – Specification” (BSI Flex 701 v2.0:2025-03) which takes effect on 31 March 2025.
According to the government announcement, the publication provides “new world-leading nature finance standards which will set the bar for nature investments, prevent greenwashing and helping business invest in restoring nature”.
The overarching principles framework is designed to be part of a wider family of standards to include natural carbon, biodiversity markets, nutrients projects and guidance on how projects should engage with local communities. BSI has also launched the nature markets online hub to which interested parties can subscribe to keep track of developments in this area and navigate the suite of BSI nature investment standards.
The press release also confirms that details of a formal assurance framework to verify compliance with the BSI standards will be set out in due course.
