Supporting nature-based projects

At Ecologi, we love nature.

When you support nature-based projects, you’re helping to prevent carbon emissions, but you’re also preserving natural habitats like forests and peatlands, and protecting endangered species. In this blog, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about the nature-based projects you can support through our Impact Shop.

When we refer to nature-based projects on our Impact Shop, we’re usually referring specifically to carbon avoidance projects (as opposed to carbon removal projects, or to our tree-planting and forest restoration projects).

This means that by supporting these projects, you’re preventing a certain amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) from ever entering our atmosphere – for example, through preventing deforestation. High-quality nature-based projects are an excellent climate solution as they curb GHG emissions while also supporting local communities and wildlife habitats.

The different types of nature-based projects which generate carbon credits include the REDD+ scheme for avoided deforestation, as well as  improved forest management (IFM), and improved agricultural land management.

Other types of nature-based projects which are classified as nature-based carbon removals include afforestation, reforestation and revegetation (ARR).

Nature-based carbon avoidance projects prevent precious natural habitats from being degraded, such as by protecting trees from deforestation, and restoring and protecting carbon-rich peatlands. By supporting these projects, carbon in plants and soils remains locked away, and habitats vital to the survival of threatened and endangered species are preserved, helping to protect and boost biodiversity.

Protecting these natural carbon sinks, such as soil, is key to slowing climate change – and by working with nature, these projects don’t rely on new or experimental technologies to prevent or remove emissions. 

On top of the environmental benefits of our nature-based projects, there is also a boost in quality of life for surrounding communities. These projects can benefit livelihoods by providing new and improved sources of income for local people, and can even bring in better education and healthcare facilities.

Planting new trees is a great climate solution, but we also need to conserve forests that are already there – not just for their carbon storage, but also to protect and provide habitats for local wildlife.

Key indicators of a great avoided deforestation project include:

• Accurate baselining, meaning its estimates of background rates of deforestation were correct.
• Additionality, meaning the forest protection would not have happened without the project being there.
• Permanence, meaning the project has a good chance of locking up the carbon for a long time.
• Strong co-benefits, meaning the project generates additional benefits for the community, or biodiversity.

This does mean there are lots of trade-offs to think about when supporting nature-based projects.

For example, a forest project project might have over-achieved in its carbon avoidance goals, but have minimal co-benefits for the local community. Or, a project might be excellent for biodiversity and for the local community, but have seen a little bit more deforestation than it anticipated, leading to a slightly lower carbon benefit.

If you choose to support carbon avoidance through nature-based projects in our Impact Shop, you’ll be supporting a different, carefully selected project each quarter. The majority of the nature-based projects we support fall into the category of forest protection, which is recognised as a key climate solution. 

The nature-based projects we support are all certified by either the Gold Standard or the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), and are individually vetted by our expert in-house team. We choose projects based on our analysis of the project’s chances of success, across all these key indicators.

Additionally, all the nature-based projects we support have been scrutinised and rated highly by Sylvera, an independent carbon intelligence platform. Sylvera gives each project a carbon score, as well as additional scores for additionality, permanence, and co-benefits. This gives us an extra layer of due diligence through adding the analysis of an independent third-party. You can read more about our collaboration with Sylvera here.

Supporting nature-based projects through the Impact Shop couldn’t be simpler. There’s no need for a subscription, you just need to visit our website and create a business account. From there, you’ll be able to visit the Impact Shop and search for nature-based projects. You can find all the details about each project and once purchased, the impact will be added to your online profile, giving you an overview of all your climate action. 

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