The Nature & People Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization under the laws of UK  dedicated to promoting urban biodiversity by connecting nature with sustainable urban development.

Biodiversity located in areas of human settlements, including cities, islands or regions as well as biodiversity that contributes to sustainable development.

The services provided by Biodiversity, which provide benefits to people and the environment.

The UBS is a science-based standard designed to help cities, islands, and regions align their biodiversity investments with social and economic needs, fostering more resilient and sustainable cities.

• UBCs are an innovative financial mechanism that allows cities and developers to increase urban biodiversity through private investment, providing measurable and tradable credits.
• The UBC is a digital or non-digital credit that represents an increase in vegetative cover, tree, shrub or herbaceous plants per year, in an area of 100sq metres ((e.g. an area of 10m x 10m, or 50m x 2m or equivalent.) There are baseline conditions outlined in section 11 of the Urban Biodiversity Standard, which have to be met for a project to generate UBCs. When a project meets the baseline conditions, one Credit is generated every year that it is maintained, up to a maximum of 25 years.

Urban biodiversity offers essential ecosystem services such as climate regulation, improved air quality, and pollution reduction, helping to create more livable and healthier environments.

Urban biodiversity projects improve public health, increase property values, and reduce the urban heat island effect, contributing to both community well-being and economic development

We collaborate with local governments, businesses, other organizations and local communities to develop pilot projects that promote biodiversity and improve quality of life in urban areas.

If you are interested in participating in the UBS consultation process, please contact us via our form to learn more about how you can get involved.

Our pilot projects, such as those in Formentera and Rio de Janeiro, demonstrate how biodiversity can enhance environmental, social, and economic resilience in urban and peri-urban areas.

This depends on how large the project is.  If the project meets all the conditions to receive UBCs then 1 UBC can be awarded each year for each 100m2 area.  At each data collection point the improvements in the:

• Abundance.
• Diversity.
• Resilience of the trees and shrubs will be measured, and Credits are awarded on the basis of the improvements of these three factors.

The UBS is available for use now.  It is currently being piloted in two areas: on the island of Formentera, and in the city of Rio de Janeiro. These pilots will help demonstrate how the UBS operates.

• A Biodiversity Credit is generated from the increase in the diversity, resilience and abundance of the tree, shrub and perennial floral species on the project site (each 100m2). 
• The biodiversity also delivers ecosystem services to the people of the area.  Using the Urban Biodiversity Standard specific species are planted to deal with specific environmental or social problems. Some tree and shrub species offer ecosystem services, such as absorption of air pollutants (e.g. PM2.5, PM10, NO2); absorption of surface rainwater; cooling a city’s heat by providing shade and increased moisture; stabilisation of soil. The ecosystem services provided by different species mean that locally important problems can be improved by careful species selection of the trees and shrubs provided in the project. 
• So far, the Nature and People Foundation’s scientific partners have analysed the ecosystem services of 80 of Europe’s most common trees and shrubs and is expanding the database to include species in other regions.  Where a project has endemic species which are not in that database, those trees will be analysed in either laboratory conditions (for pollutant absorption capability) or in the field (for heat attenuation capability) to evaluate the specific ecosystem services they offer.  This information will then be used to recommend the range of species to be planted at a project site.
• In practice the generation of a UBC will be valuing both the biodiversity and the ecosystem services that biodiversity is providing.

Once the project baseline data is collected, and the specific tree and shrub species have been planted, then we will be able to start collecting progress data.  Data can be collected annually, but usually it will be after the first 3 years, and then every 5 years through to year 25 of the project.

At each data collection point the improvements in the abundance, diversity and resilience of the trees and shrubs will be measured.  The overall improvement of the biodiversity on the site will be based on those 3 factors.  For each 100m2 an Urban Biodiversity Credit will be awarded. 

The value of the ecosystem services is integrated into the Credit over a slightly shorter timeframe to reflect the fact that trees do not start delivering ecosystem services until around year 5 of their growth, so the value will be calculated over 20 years in a 25-year project.

We are currently exploring how best to price the Credits.  We have examined a wide range of international valuation methodologies such as iTree, CAVEAT, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tree valuation and ecosystem valuations of projects in the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database.  These methodologies give a broad range of valuations for different ecosystem services.  We will be selecting the most appropriate values for each of our projects, to set the UBC valuation.

We want the Credits to reflect the true benefits the project is bringing to an area in terms of the ecosystem services which are provided by the biodiversity.

• As concern about biodiversity loss has grown in the past few years, so has corporate interest in investing in projects which are protecting and enhancing biodiversity.  In cities, we see biodiversity improvement becoming a means for a company’s “licence to operate”.  By using the Urban Biodiversity Standard for a project, a company would also be actively contributing to tackling local challenges such as high levels of air pollution, excess heat, surface flooding etc.
• In the wider biodiversity credits markets, Credits are bought by corporates wishing to invest in nature for corporate responsibility reasons. Some companies are also using Biodiversity Credits to offset their negative impacts on the environment.  We believe companies based in cities, who invest in an Urban Biodiversity Credits project will likely be directly investing in their local areas, rather than offsetting for impacts elsewhere.
• Urban Biodiversity Credits can allow private investors to demonstrate their role as responsible corporate citizens in the cities in which they operate.  This could include real estate developers, providers of urban utilities (such as water or electricity), major employers, or responsible financial businesses.  Investing in UBCs will offer a way to maintain their social licence to operate; for others, it will be a practical solution for counteracting their environmental footprint.  In all cases, it will provide much greater clarity about the outcomes being delivered because of the objective metrics and independent verification which UBCs require.
• Development Banks may be interested in developing Sustainability Linked Bonds with a city, using the UBC monitoring data as the KPIs.  A city with a weak credit rating may find a UBC project, with its measured outcomes, particularly useful for improving its rating.

If a project area is not adequately maintained, or if there are catastrophic events which destroy the biodiversity, and the biodiversity does not pass the three tests of increase in diversity, abundance, and resilience, then no Credits will be awarded.  If the biodiversity recovers, then at the next data collection point the biodiversity and ecosystem services will be reassessed and Credits awarded in the normal way.

Note if just some species die, and the balance of planting is therefore changed, this may affect whether the project is awarded Credits.  Where such issues occur, the project proponent would be advised to discuss remedial action with the Nature & People Foundation.

The Registry for Urban Biodiversity Credits will be hosted by Evertree SA, a company in Spain.  Evertree SA will upload the baseline and monitoring data onto blockchain.  Once the monitoring data has been analysed to assess a project’s level of achievement against the three elements of abundance, diversity and resilience, Evertree will be the validators of the Urban Biodiversity Credits.

In addition to this validation, independent verification will be sought so the integrity of the Credits is maintained. Independent verification may be carried out by groups of scientists such as the Biodiversity Futures Initiative or a notable body such as the Gold Standard (for carbon).