Creating science-led opportunities for green financing
Nature markets serve as a platform to unlock new funding and finance options, capitalising on ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, improved water quality, enhanced biodiversity and reduced flood risk. UKCEH scientists are well placed to identify new opportunities for nature restoration, from which services and marketable units can be derived.
Our scientists have contributed to and led the development of codes which provide the scientific rigour needed to build trust in nature markets. These codes provide a robust framework for market operations, supporting measuring, selling, buying and monitoring ecosystem services.
UKCEH is leading a cross-sector consortium to develop and launch a UK Saltmarsh Code, similar to the existing Peatland and Woodland Codes. This will support a rigorous and scientifically-based voluntary certification standard for saltmarsh carbon to be marketed and traded by UK companies; and will assure buyers of carbon credits that the benefits being sold are real, quantifiable, additional and permanent.
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“The introduction of a Saltmarsh Code would pave the way for private investment to support projects that have some public financing but would not otherwise happen.”
The secrets of the saltmarsh: 450Counting the Earth podcast episode
Listen to our podcast episode to learn more about the project and the benefits of saltmarshes, from providing wildlife habitat to storing carbon.
UKCEH scientists led a major evidence review and developed new methods to update and expand the UK Peatland Code. The Peatland Code, supported by Defra and operated by the IUCN Peatland Programme, is the primary mechanism for private funding and generation of carbon credits for UK peat restoration.
The new method uses data from UKCEH’s flux tower network and elsewhere to update estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and removals for different peatland categories. It also extends the Peatland Code to cover lowland fen peats for the first time. The new method enables project developers to estimate emissions reductions that could be achieved by raising water levels, based on data analysis published in Nature in 2021.
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