BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS AND CREDITS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The document critiques biodiversity offsetting and crediting mechanisms, asserting that they simplify complex ecosystems into tradable units, facilitate greenwashing by corporations, and threaten the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It argues that these market-based approaches are 'worse than nothing' because they provide an illusion of progress while bypassing the mitigation hierarchy. Instead, the authors advocate for transformational change, the redirection of harmful subsidies, and the provision of biodiversity finance through grants and direct access to Indigenous-led governance systems.

• Biodiversity offsets are flawed because they attempt to compensate for the destruction of unique ecosystems through 'avoided loss' or habitat restoration, ignoring the fact that ecosystems are not interchangeable and that proper restoration to original levels, especially for primary forests, is unknown.
• Biodiversity credits are financial certificates representing saved or restored species and habitats; while they have various potential uses, offsetting is expected to be the dominant demand, mirroring the trajectory of carbon credits.
• The primary beneficiaries of biodiversity credit markets are private corporations, which can use them to evade responsibility and claim biodiversity destruction is being addressed while continuing harmful activities, as well as financial intermediaries and some governments.
• Market-based biodiversity schemes pose significant risks to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including land grabbing, community displacements, human rights abuses, and conflicts over tenure rights, often resulting in land being locked up for decades.
• The 'mitigation hierarchy'—which suggests offsets be a last resort after avoiding or reducing damage—is often bypassed in practice because offsetting is typically cheaper and requires less technical capacity.
• The document identifies several technical failures in biodiversity metrics, including the impossibility of proving 'additionality', the risk of 'double counting', and the lack of permanence in environmental outcomes.
• Alternative funding for biodiversity should focus on redirecting the $1.7 trillion of existing harmful subsidies and providing finance as grants and direct access payments to Indigenous-led initiatives.

APA

Hache, F., Ching, L. L., Lin, L. L., Fernández, M. I., Marien, N., Kill, J., Dellasta, H., Martínez, V. F., Cabello, J., Witchger, J., Picken, T., Prado, A. A., van der Mark, M., Lingam, T., Gilbertson, T., Gualinga, E. S., & Counsell, S. (2025). BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS AND CREDITS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/15-FoEI-Biodiversity-offsets-FAQ-ENG-hr-online-use.pdf

Chicago

Hache, Frédéric, Lim Li Ching, Lim Li Lin, Mirna Ines Fernández, Nele Marien, Jutta Kill, Heitor Dellasta, et al. BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS AND CREDITS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. Friends of the Earth International, 2025. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/15-FoEI-Biodiversity-offsets-FAQ-ENG-hr-online-use.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hache |first1=Frédéric |last2=Ching |first2=Lim Li |last3=Lin |first3=Lim Li |last4=Fernández |first4=Mirna Ines |last5=Marien |first5=Nele |last6=Kill |first6=Jutta |last7=Dellasta |first7=Heitor |last8=Martínez |first8=Valentina Figuera |last9=Cabello |first9=Joanna |display-authors=etal |title=BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS AND CREDITS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=2025 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/15-FoEI-Biodiversity-offsets-FAQ-ENG-hr-online-use.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hache2025biodiversity, author = {Hache, Frédéric and Ching, Lim Li and Lin, Lim Li and Fernández, Mirna Ines and Marien, Nele and Kill, Jutta and Dellasta, Heitor and Martínez, Valentina Figuera and Cabello, Joanna and Witchger, Joshua and Picken, Tom and Prado, Amelia Arreguin and van der Mark, Merel and Lingam, Theiva and Gilbertson, Tamra and Gualinga, Emil Sirén and Counsell, Simon}, title = {{BIODIVERSITY OFFSETS AND CREDITS: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/15-FoEI-Biodiversity-offsets-FAQ-ENG-hr-online-use.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }