Appendix A: Biodiversity methodologies comparison table

The WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions on earth’s land alone. Although the exact number of total existing species is still unknown, currently 1.7 million species have been identified (Convention on biological biodiversity, n.d.; Mora et al., 2011; W W F, n.d.). As markets emerge to protect them, there will likely be several biodiversity standards needed to properly value proper possession of this planetary abundance. Table 7 shows emerging standards, including standards from other certifying bodies in the context of the ISBD at the time it was originally written (July 2023).

More comprehensive reports have emerged in the interim, including this comparison table by Simon Gradeckas at Bloom Labs, and more will likely certainly be added.

To our knowledge, we remain the sole IP and LC crediting methodology globally but we are hopeful this will change as more developers see the need for, and benefits of, IP and LC inclusion in both science and biodiversity projects.

Table 7. Emerging standards (certifying bodies in the context of the ISBD).

Methodology	SUAS-SLU	Terrasos	Plan Vivo (Replanet, Wallacea)	Verra	Regen	Cercarbono (Savimbo)
Scope	Boreal forests	Global	Global	Global	Global	Global
Crediting factors	Inventories (species richness, population size, remote sensing)	Habitat	1% Δ metrics (5+ inc. targets, habitat, and ecosystem)	Unavailable	Umbrella species	Indicator species
Activities	Conservation, restoration and improved forest management	Conservation, Restoration, Management	Conservation, Restoration, Management	Unavailable	Conservation	Conservation
Certified	No	No	In pipeline	In pipeline	No	In pipeline
Unit	Land (ha)	Land (10m2)	Land (ha)	Unavailable	Land (ha)	Land (ha)
Incorporates traditional knowledge	No	No	No	Unavailable	No	Yes
Land tenure	Unavailable	Ownership	Ownership, Stewardship	Unavailable	Ownership, Stewardship	Ownership, Stewardship
Crediting period/ issued	20 yrs, ha/yrs	20 yrs/Milestones	10-50 yrs/XXX	Unavailable	Every 5 yrs/unlimited renewal	2 months/Annually
Ecosystem classification	Unavailable	IUCN	Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW) classification	Unavailable	IUCN	IUCN, CI biodiversity hotspots, UN-FAO LCCS, Holdridge
Issues	BC	VBC	VBC	Unavailable	XXX	VBC