The global biodiversity credits market was valued at USD 4.2 billion in 2025. This market is expected to reach USD 21.9 billion by 2036, growing from USD 4.9 billion in 2026, at a CAGR of 16.2% from 2026 to 2036.

Key Highlights – Biodiversity Credits Market

• The global biodiversity credits market is expected to reach USD 21.9 billion by 2036, at a CAGR of 16.2% from 2026 to 2036.
• North America accounts for the largest share of the global biodiversity credits market in 2026, holding around 55% of total revenue, driven by the mature U.S. compensatory mitigation banking system operating under the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.
• Compliance biodiversity credits, led by wetland and stream mitigation and species and conservation banking, account for the large majority of market revenue in 2026, reflecting decades of regulatory demand under statutory no-net-loss and net-gain requirements.
• Voluntary biodiversity credits are the fastest-growing credit category through 2036, supported by new standards such as Verra's Nature Framework and Plan Vivo's PV Nature, though the segment remains small relative to compliance markets.
• Habitat Banking and Credit Development is the largest service-type segment, capturing revenue across land acquisition, ecological restoration, credit generation, and sale.
• Biodiversity Measurement, MRV and Monitoring platforms form the fastest-growing service category, driven by the need for credible, standardized biodiversity metrics.
• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and in particular its Target 19 goal to mobilize at least USD 200 billion per year by 2030, is expanding public and private demand for measurable biodiversity outcomes.
• Corporate nature disclosure under the TNFD and the emergence of science-based targets for nature are broadening voluntary demand beyond regulated sectors.
• The estimated USD 700 billion annual biodiversity finance gap is drawing institutional capital and specialized nature funds into habitat banking and biodiversity credit development.

Global Biodiversity Credits Market: Regulatory Mandates, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and Corporate Nature Targets Drive Market Growth

The biodiversity credits market comprises the credits, services, and platforms through which measurable gains in habitat and species outcomes are generated, certified, and sold to organizations required or seeking to compensate for their impacts on nature. It spans compliance biodiversity credits, including wetland and stream mitigation credits, species and conservation banking credits, Biodiversity Net Gain units, and statutory offset credits, alongside the emerging category of voluntary biodiversity credits, together with the habitat banking, credit development, ecological restoration, biodiversity measurement and monitoring, marketplace, advisory, financing, and verification services that commercialize them. Historically, biodiversity compensation was delivered through regulated mitigation and offset programs concentrated in a small number of countries. Today, the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the introduction of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain in England, and the growth of corporate nature commitments are broadening demand and giving rise to new voluntary markets. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the framework was adopted by 196 Parties at COP15 in December 2022, establishing biodiversity as a defined policy and financial priority and creating the conditions for a structured, revenue-generating biodiversity credit market.

Regulatory Compensation Mandates Anchor the Biodiversity Credit Market

The market is anchored by long-standing regulatory requirements that oblige developers to compensate for unavoidable impacts on habitats and protected species. In the United States, compensatory mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and conservation banking under the Endangered Species Act have created the world's largest and most mature biodiversity credit market; according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Regulatory In-lieu fee and Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS), more than 2,600 approved mitigation and conservation banks were operating in the United States as of 2024. The United Kingdom's mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain regime, in force since February 2024, requires most new development to deliver at least a 10% measurable increase in biodiversity, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) advised Parliament in 2025 that the market was expected to raise between GBP 180 million and GBP 250 million annually. These statutory "no net loss" and "net gain" obligations convert regulatory compliance into recurring, enforceable demand, providing the revenue base on which habitat banks, credit developers, and verification providers operate.

The Global Biodiversity Framework and Corporate Nature Targets Expand Demand

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has established a global policy architecture that is broadening demand well beyond traditional compliance markets. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Target 19 calls for mobilizing at least USD 200 billion per year in biodiversity finance by 2030, including at least USD 30 billion per year in international flows to developing countries, while Target 3 commits parties to conserving at least 30% of land and sea by 2030. In parallel, corporate nature disclosure is scaling rapidly: the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) reported that more than 500 organizations, including asset managers overseeing USD 22.4 trillion, had committed to nature-related reporting, and the Science Based Targets Network has begun issuing methods for corporate targets on nature. These developments are translating national commitments and disclosure obligations into demand for measurable biodiversity outcomes, generating advisory, credit development, and verification revenue across regulated and voluntary buyers.

Voluntary Biodiversity Credits Emerge as a New Asset Class

A distinct voluntary biodiversity credit market is emerging to channel corporate and investor finance into measurable conservation and restoration outcomes. In October 2024, Verra launched its Nature Framework under the SD VISta Program, under which a Nature Credit represents one percent of net biodiversity outcomes measured in quality hectares; Plan Vivo's PV Nature, the Wallacea Trust methodology, and Accounting for Nature's NaturePlus standard have introduced competing approaches. The segment remains small: the World Economic Forum estimates that the voluntary biodiversity credit market was worth only around USD 8 million, but projects that demand could reach USD 2 billion by 2030 and USD 69 billion by 2050 with effective governance. While immaterial to current revenue, voluntary biodiversity credits are the fastest-growing category and are creating early commercial opportunities for project developers, standards bodies, marketplaces, and measurement providers positioning for a scaled market.

Biodiversity Measurement and Integrity Determine Market Credibility

Unlike carbon markets, which trade a fungible tonne of CO2 equivalent, biodiversity has no single global unit, making measurement and integrity central to commercial credibility. Credits are quantified using habitat condition and extent metrics, "quality hectare" and equivalent approaches, and species-specific indicators that vary across jurisdictions and standards. Providers are investing in environmental DNA sampling, remote sensing, acoustic monitoring, and geospatial analytics to make biodiversity outcomes measurable and auditable at scale, with specialists such as NatureMetrics, Pivotal, and Cecil building dedicated measurement and monitoring platforms. The absence of harmonized metrics and the reputational risks illustrated by the voluntary carbon market are driving demand for robust measurement, reporting, and verification, positioning biodiversity measurement, MRV, and monitoring as the fastest-growing service category and a prerequisite for market scaling.

Habitat Banking Consolidation and Ecological Restoration Businesses

The commercial structure of the compliance market centers on private habitat banks that acquire land, restore or protect habitat, and sell the resulting credits, requiring substantial upfront capital and long-term stewardship obligations. In the United States, the market has consolidated around large ecological restoration companies: Resource Environmental Solutions (RES), the national leader, expanded its footprint through the acquisition of Environmental Banc & Exchange and its portfolio of permitted mitigation banks, while Ecosystem Investment Partners has developed some of the country's largest wetland banks, including the 24,000-acre Lake Superior Mitigation Bank, and Westervelt Ecological Services operates banks nationwide. This consolidation reflects the capital intensity of habitat banking and the entry of institutional investors seeking long-duration environmental assets, with revenue generated from credit sales, pay-for-performance restoration contracts, and ongoing land management.

Nature Finance and the Investment Opportunity Scale the Long-Term Market

The scale of capital required to reverse biodiversity loss underpins the market's long-term growth. According to estimates associated with the Global Biodiversity Framework, the biodiversity finance gap is around USD 700 billion per year, comprising roughly USD 200 billion in additional direct finance and USD 500 billion in the redirection of nature-harmful subsidies. This gap is drawing institutional investors, specialized nature funds, and blended-finance vehicles into biodiversity markets, expanding demand for advisory, structuring, and project financing services that mobilize and de-risk capital. As biodiversity shifts from a compliance cost toward an investable outcome, service providers that connect landowners, developers, corporate buyers, and capital markets are positioned to capture a growing share of revenue across the value chain.

Market by Geography

North America Biodiversity Credits Market

North America is the largest regional market, accounting for approximately 55% of the global biodiversity credits market in 2026. The region's dominance reflects the maturity of the U.S. compensatory mitigation system, which operates under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' RIBITS database, more than 2,600 approved mitigation and conservation banks were operating in the United States as of 2024, supporting an established market in wetland, stream, and species credits served by large habitat banking companies. Federal permitting requirements provide durable, enforceable demand, while Canada is developing conservation offset and habitat banking frameworks that are expected to expand regional supply. The concentration of habitat bankers, ecological restoration firms, and mitigation advisory providers reinforces North America's position as the commercial core of the market.

Europe Biodiversity Credits Market

Europe accounts for around 20% of global biodiversity credits market revenue in 2026 and is among the fastest-growing regions. The United Kingdom's mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain regime has created one of the world's first economy-wide regulated biodiversity markets, which DEFRA estimated in 2025 could raise between GBP 180 million and GBP 250 million annually, with the regime's extension to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects expected to increase demand further. At the European Union level, the Nature Restoration Regulation, adopted in 2024, sets a target to restore at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030, while Germany's long-standing impact mitigation regulation continues to sustain habitat compensation demand. Strong TNFD adoption among European financial institutions and corporates is additionally driving voluntary demand and advisory activity.

Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Credits Market

Asia-Pacific is projected to be a strong-growing regional market during the forecast period, led by Australia's established biodiversity offset schemes. According to the New South Wales Government, the total value of Biodiversity Offsets Scheme credit trades reached AUD 105.1 million in 2022-23, and reforms enacted in 2024 are strengthening scheme integrity and moving the state toward net-positive biodiversity outcomes. National reforms at the Commonwealth level, alongside emerging voluntary biodiversity credit activity across Southeast Asia and the presence of globally significant biodiversity in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Pacific, are expanding both regulated and voluntary demand. Rising corporate nature commitments and growing investment in biodiversity measurement are expected to drive continued regional growth.

Latin America and Middle East & Africa Biodiversity Credits Market

Latin America is emerging as a leading source of voluntary biodiversity credit supply and regulated habitat banking, anchored by Colombia, where Terrasos has developed the region's first voluntary habitat banks, and by high-biodiversity ecosystems across Brazil, Peru, and the Amazon. The Middle East & Africa region is scaling biodiversity credit activity through voluntary conservation projects, national restoration commitments, and the presence of internationally significant protected areas across South Africa, Kenya, and Central Africa. Both regions increasingly attract project developers, measurement providers, and financing institutions seeking high-integrity biodiversity outcomes and capturing a growing share of credit development, MRV, and advisory revenue.

Competitive Landscape

The global biodiversity credits market is developing rapidly, shaped by mature compliance markets, new regulated regimes such as Biodiversity Net Gain, and the emergence of voluntary biodiversity credits. The market remains fragmented and jurisdiction-specific, with competition spanning habitat banking and ecological restoration companies, biodiversity credit developers, measurement and monitoring platforms, standards and registries, biodiversity credit marketplaces, advisory and nature-finance firms, and validation and verification providers. Participants compete primarily on ecological outcomes, scientific credibility, measurement capability, regulatory approval, land access and capital, and integration with credit standards and registries.

A key competitive trend is the consolidation of the U.S. habitat banking market around large ecological restoration businesses backed by institutional capital, alongside the parallel emergence of voluntary credit developers, standards bodies, and measurement specialists building the infrastructure for a scaled nature-positive market. Companies are investing in environmental DNA, remote sensing, and geospatial analytics to strengthen the credibility of biodiversity metrics, while partnerships among developers, standards, financial institutions, and technology providers are accelerating commercialization. The growing emphasis on measurement integrity and transparency is favoring providers that can demonstrate verifiable, durable biodiversity outcomes.

Key Players

The key companies operating in the global biodiversity credits market include:

• Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)
• Ecosystem Investment Partners
• Westervelt Ecological Services
• Wildlands, Inc.
• The Earth Partners LP
• Environment Bank Ltd
• Nattergal Ltd
• Terrasos
• Verra
• Plan Vivo Foundation
• Wallacea Trust
• Accounting for Nature Ltd
• Cercarbono
• rePLANET
• Savimbo
• ValueNature
• South Pole
• NatureMetrics
• Pivotal
• Cecil
• Single.Earth
• NatureAlpha
• The Biodiversity Consultancy
• Pollination Group
• ERM (Environmental Resources Management)
• eftec
• Finance Earth
• Climate Asset Management
• Mirova
• SGS SA
• Bureau Veritas
• DNV
• SCS Global Services