According to an estimate adopted at COP15, restoring biodiversity in 2022 will require an annual budget of $700 billion. Suffice it to say that the challenge is colossal, at a time when urgent action is needed. For their part, economic stakeholders have high expectations regarding the certification of actions—or funding—deemed to be beneficial to biodiversity. In this context, developing a standard model for evaluating practices and their benefits is a major challenge.

The National Museum of Natural History, the Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB) and Carbon 4 have thus signed a scientific cooperation agreement on biodiversity certificates. The purpose of this program is to establish a standard method for evaluating actions considered to be beneficial to biodiversity, based on a consensus among experts.

The long-term goal is to determine, under the leadership of theOrganization for Biodiversity Certificates (OBC), a certification process, and the establishment of a market framework for the exchange and use of the generated certificates.

To mark the launch of the scientific research project, a roundtable discussion was held on November 28, 2023, at the Jardin des Plantes, bringing together nearly 270 representatives from the scientific community, businesses, NGOs, and government agencies.

Marine Braud, Chief of Staff to Sarah El Haïry, Secretary of State for Biodiversity, and Sylvie Goulard, Member of the European Parliament and Co-Chair of the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits, were in attendance.

Thank you to the organizations that participated in the discussions—namely AFD, the Oceanographic Institute, and Planète Urgence—as well as the corporate sponsors Kering, Pernod Ricard, and Fransylva, who shared their insights on the importance of these biodiversity certificates.

This research project is funded by the Museum for the Planet Endowment Fund.