The Business Case for Voluntary Biodiversity Credits
Voluntary Biodiversity Credits provide organisations with a verified mechanism to reduce Nature-related business risk, support measurable biodiversity recovery, strengthen sustainability reporting, and demonstrate credible environmental leadership. Backed by independent verification and annual impact reporting, credits can deliver tangible outcomes for Nature, climate and communities while helping businesses meet growing disclosure, compliance and stakeholder expectations. This article explains how organisations can realise these benefits while aligning with their reporting and sustainability obligations.
Nature is a material business risk
The business case for engaging with biodiversity is now evidenced by some of the World’s leading organisations. The World Economic Forum estimates that over half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on Nature. The European Central Bank has found that 72% of euro-area non-financial companies depend on at least one ecosystem service and would face significant operational disruption if ecosystem degradation continues at its current pace. In the UK, the Green Finance Institute has calculated that Nature degradation could cause a 12% loss in GDP by mid-century, an exposure now formally recognised by the UK government in its Nature Security Assessment published earlier this year.
These figures demonstrate that the risks associated with biodiversity loss - water scarcity, soil degradation, flooding, pollinator decline - are not peripheral environmental concerns. Instead, they are embedded in supply chains, in infrastructure dependencies, and in the long-term stability of operating environments.
Driven, by investor demands and regulation, and supported by frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), organisations are increasingly assessing their dependencies and impacts on natural systems.
For businesses that have begun to quantify that exposure, voluntary biodiversity credits (VBCs) offer a concrete, verified mechanism to act on it.
What is a Voluntary Biodiversity Credit (VBC)?
A voluntary biodiversity credit is a way for a business to invest in the restoration of Nature beyond its direct operations or legal requirements. Each credit represents a measurable improvement in biodiversity at a specific site – such as habitat creation, species recovery or ecosystem restoration. In Nattergal’s case, each credit represents 9sqm piece of land at Boothby Wildland - legally protected and restored for 30 years, ensuring long-term ecological benefits.
Nattergal’s approach to VBCs
Nattergal has partnered with Earthly to verify our restoration approach at Boothby Wildland and bring high-integrity UK VBCs to the market. Earthly's verification framework, Keystone 3.0, assesses 160 data points across carbon, biodiversity and community pillars. Boothby is among the 9% of projects that have passed that assessment. Importantly, they conduct periodic re-assessments to ensure that the integrity of the credits are tied to evidenced-performance.
The credits themselves are built on the DEFRA biodiversity metric, the same methodology used in the statutory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) market. The BNG units are fractionalised into 9m² tiles to make voluntary investment accessible at the right price point. Each credit funds the restoration of grasslands, scrub and ponds, which contribute to the wider resilience of the landscape.
For organisations concerned about the integrity of their Nature investments, and the reputational exposure that comes with getting that wrong, this dual verification is a valuable asset.
VBCs at Boothby Wildland
Nattergal’s projects are built on our commitment to deliver what is best for Nature and local communities. Our natural-process-led approach to restoration focuses on re-establishing the ecological processes that drive ecosystem function, which builds climate-resilience into landscapes.
Boothby Wildland illustrates this approach. Interventions such as digging ponds, breaking field drains, targeted tree planting, re-connecting the previously canalised river to its floodplain and reintroducing beavers are encouraging new habitats, including wetland, woodland, scrub and grassland, to establish. We are already noticing meaningful improvements in the form of species recovery and enhanced hydrology across the site.
Progress is monitored through ecological surveys, acoustic monitoring, soil sampling and hydrological assessments in collaboration with academia and public bodies, helping to strengthen the scientific evidence-base behind natural-process-led restoration.
Importantly, the project is also designed around community value. In 2025, it recorded more than 2,000 volunteering hours and the team hosted events including town hall meetings, consultations and Nature days for local families. Nattergal is a proud sponsor of the Scouts Nature Badge, helping connect more than 500,000 young people with the natural world.
These outcomes are published annually in a site-specific impact report, which gives corporate partners verified evidence to support TNFD or SBTN disclosure. Recent verified results include:
Over 4,000m³ of additional water storage created in the river valley
138,000 tonnes of carbon to be sequestered over the next 50 years
A 58% agreed increase in public rights of way (up to 25km)
3,346 volunteer hours contributed
A 22% uplift in species detected vs baseline, a 108% uplift in overall biodiversity
Why get involved?
Healthy ecosystems underpin water security, climate buffering and agricultural productivity. For procurement and operations leaders, supporting landscape-scale restoration in regions relevant to their operations is a direct investment in long-term resilience. Investments in beyond value-chain mitigation and ecosystem restoration are aligned with TNFD, SBTI and SBTN recommendations and their outcomes can be integrated directly into corporate reports.
But, the benefits go beyond risk mitigation. Our approach generates verified, place-based biodiversity recovery stories that are tied to specific, annually updated outcomes. Including third-party verified, habitat improvement and species monitoring data into a corporate Nature narrative is essential to make it bullet proof against public scrutiny. This provides a chance to get an early mover advantage with nascent Nature markets.
Roadmap to internal buy-in
1. Lead with financial exposure. As a starting point, use the GDP and supply chain dependency figures above, then, build in quantified details about your organisation’s specific Nature-related risks. VBCs can be framed as a strategy to mitigate those.
2. Connect the investment to your disclosure obligations. Is your organisation is subject to the Sustainable Reporting Standards (UK) or Corporate Sustainability Reporting Disclosures (EU) regulations, Nature investments are not just a sustainability initiative, they are compliance infrastructure. Impact-driven organisations pursuing third party accreditation such as B Corp, ISO, EcoVadis, high-integrity ecosystem restoration is an example of initiatives those frameworks assess favourably.
3. Quantify the outcome. The Boothby VBCs have measurable outcomes that should be leveraged. You can point to specific hectares restored, habitats created and species monitored, which facilitates reporting against the frameworks mentioned above.
4. Start small, dream big. It may take time to get approval for large investments, so starting with a small contribution tied to a specific reporting cycle or disclosure milestone is reasonable. You can then gradually expand your relationship with Nattergal, as historical success data becomes available to build the business case for more significant budget allocations.
The bottom line
The value of investing in a verified, scientifically assessed, disclosure-aligned approach is that it is built to last in an environment where standards are tightening and scrutiny is increasing. Boothby's outcomes are measurable, independently verified and updated annually, providing organisations with a trust-worthy framework to buy into.