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At the end of 2021, Ecologi became an Actor in the <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration</a>! We join around 100 other <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/partners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">organisations, charities, and agencies</a> who are committed to accelerating ecosystem restoration efforts.

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The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (the ‘UN Decade’) is “a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature.” Globally, there are many initiatives working to restore ecosystems, and protect existing ecosystems from harm. The UN Decade aims to support the acceleration of thousands of such initiatives so that, together, we can protect as much of our natural world as possible, bringing life back to areas where it has been eradicated due to human activity. Initiatives driven by the UN Decade will restore ecosystems to support a more sustainable future for the planet. <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/types-ecosystem-restoration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8 types of ecosystems</a> will be restored as part of the UN Decade: Farmlands, Forests, Freshwaters, Mountains, Oceans &amp; Coasts, Peatlands, Urban Areas, and Grasslands, Shrublands &amp; Savannahs.
Just as the deadline for achieving the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs) is 2030, so too is the end of the UN Decade, by which time we collectively need to have made significant strides forward in ecosystem restoration. Ecosystem restoration projects will also support several of the SDGs, improving lives all around the world as well as protecting important habitats and species. 
Driving the UN Decade are the <a href="https://www.unep.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Nations Environment Programme</a> and the <a href="https://www.fao.org/home/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations</a>. Essential to the Decade’s success will be the building of political momentum for restoration, and the UN’s unique position to engage parties from all areas of the world will be fundamental in achieving this.

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What does being an Actor within the UN Decade involve?

By becoming an Actor, we are committing to supporting and facilitating ecosystem restoration activities. Of course, this is already at the heart of Ecologi. As an Actor, we have agreed to adhere to the <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/publications/principles-ecosystem-restoration-guide-united-nations-decade-2021-2030" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN Decade Restoration Principles</a>. In doing so we will be able to maximise our positive impact on the planet, ensuring best practice as part of a worldwide effort to restore precious ecosystems and the species that live within them. Being part of this global movement is very exciting for us, and we will work hard to accelerate ecosystem restoration efforts so that, by the end of the decade, together we will have made a significant amount of progress towards a better world for us all.

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Why is ecosystem restoration important right now?

There is an urgent need to make big improvements to our planet’s threatened and damaged ecosystems. Without these changes, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we have a much lower chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change</a>. Major restoration must be carried out by the end of the decade, but the clock is ticking. The natural world has the potential to <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/natures-make-or-break-potential-for-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">help us to keep global climatic systems on an even keel</a>, but it needs to be nursed back to health to maximise its impact.
Many ecosystems and the species that live within them are under increasing pressure, both due to direct human pressures, and due to the changing climate. If we hesitate to protect these ecosystems we will drive many species to extinction, adding to the estimated <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01448-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 million species that are already under great threat due to human activity</a>.

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How does Ecologi’s work contribute to ecosystem restoration?

Through Ecologi, individuals and businesses can contribute towards projects restoring ecosystems around the world. Not only do we fund amazing reforestation projects to restore ecosystems that have been reduced in size, but we also support some amazing nature-based carbon reduction projects that protect and enhance existing ecosystems. Here are a few examples of the projects the Ecologi community supports that help to restore and protect ecosystems.

<h3>Temperate Forest Restoration in Kenya</h3>
We began supporting <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/forest-restoration-in-kenya" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this project</a> in June 2021, and have already funded the planting of over 2 million trees here! In this region there had been lots of deforestation since the 1970s tos support agriculture, charcoal production and livestock. Remaining forest is being restored by planting an estimated 14.25 million trees over 7 years, on over 5,700 hectares of land.
By employing local people to plant these trees, and paying them a fair wage, access to <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">education</a>, <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nutrition</a>, and <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">healthcare</a> is also being improved by this project. In total, 8 of the UN’s SDGs are being supported by this project, showing that ecosystem restoration doesn&#8217;t just bring benefits to nature, but also, almost immediately, improves people’s quality of life.

<h3>Protecting Lowland Peat Forest in Indonesia</h3>
Keeping existing ecosystems intact, and protecting the life within them, is also very important. <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/protecting-lowland-peat-forest-in-indonesia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rimba Raya REDD+ project</a> is the first project Ecologi has supported to be certified by Verra’s <a href="https://verra.org/project/sd-vista/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard</a> (SDVista). This standard carefully scrutinises projects for their impacts toward the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a> (SDGs). The project’s SDVista Validation Reports (which can be found <a href="https://registry.verra.org/app/projectDetail/VCS/674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>) note substantial contributions to all 17 of the SDGs. 
Through this project, supported by the Ecologi community, land previously designated for being turned into palm oil plantations, which would have released carbon stored in the peat, soil, and trees into the atmosphere and would have destroyed the homes of many animals and plants, has instead been saved. The project is the largest in the world to protect High Conservation Value (HCV) tropical lowland peat swamp, and we are proud to be playing a role in its success.

<h3>Avoided Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest</h3>
Tropical rainforests are also rich in biodiversity, and their survival is critical if we are to prevent ecological collapse and keep global climatic systems stable. One project that Ecologi has supported that is protecting an area of such rainforest is in the Para state of Brazil. <a href="https://ecologi.com/projects/preserving-amazon-rainforest-in-brazil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This REDD project</a> ensures the protection of over 27,000 hectares of rainforest previously designated for deforestation. By keeping this area of rainforest alive, the project is protecting the organisms that live there, as well as protecting the livelihoods of local communities. As such, this project is contributing towards Goal 8 of the UN’s SDGs &#8211; <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Good Jobs and Economic Growth</a>, as well as <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goal 13 &#8211; Climate Action</a> (as every project Ecologi supports does), and <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goal 15 &#8211; Life on Land</a>.

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If you’d like to help amplify our impact on ecosystem restoration, <a href="https://ecologi.com/plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign up to Ecologi today</a>!

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UK Voluntary Carbon Market Guide: Best Practices for Climate Action

The voluntary carbon market plays an important role in corporate climate strategies – but its effectiveness relies on buyers doing due diligence and rigorous quality assessment on each project, as well as placing the purchase of credits in the right place in the climate journey.
To ensure meaningful climate impact, businesses must develop a comprehensive carbon strategy and find ways to fund only high-quality credits in the voluntary carbon market – and this guide shows you how to do so with Ecologi.

<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<ul>
<li>When to buy carbon credits</li>
<li>Our new carbon projects assessment framework</li>
<li>Ecologi&#8217;s core due diligence principles</li>
<li>How Ecologi scores and ranks carbon credit projects</li>
<li>Questions to ask your carbon credit supplier</li>
<li>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</li>
</ul>

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<h2>When should businesses buy carbon credits in the voluntary market?</h2>
Businesses must not use credits in place of making direct, measurable reductions in their emissions. Instead, follow these steps to ensure you buy your carbon credits on the right step of your corporate climate action journey, and in the right way:
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Measure your emissions first – to allow you to understand where your business’s emissions are coming from. 
</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Set science-based targets and work towards them – set ambitious targets aligned with the SBTi and compatible with the global 1.5ºC warming target.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM) – design your BVCM portfolio to work alongside your decarbonisation plan and address your unabated emissions in each reporting year. Align it with SBTi guidance and the Oxford Principles. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Buy high-quality carbon credits – use this guide to ensure the carbon credits you buy meet rigorous quality standards. Remember, under the SBTi framework you’ll also need permanent carbon removal credits for neutralising your residual emissions when you reach your net-zero date.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Disclose and report transparently – publicly disclose information about your carbon credit purchases, and clearly communicate the limited role of carbon credits in your broader sustainability strategy.</li>
</ol>

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<h2>Ecologi&#8217;s carbon project assessment framework</h2>
In April 2025, we published a report summarising how we assess carbon credit projects against our rigorous proprietary rubric. A snapshot of what goes into our carbon credit project assessment is below, or you <a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download the full whitepaper here</a>.

<h2>Carbon project due diligence: Ecologi’s core principles</h2>
At Ecologi, we maintain general due diligence principles which we apply universally across the voluntary carbon market, to support our efforts to supply only high-quality carbon credits.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">ICROA-endorsed standards only – we supply credits exclusively from carbon standards which are ICROA-endorsed.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Responsive to ICVCM decisions – we support the ICVCM’s two-tick approach to providing CCP-Approval to project methodologies, and we go further still, to assess individual projects on their merits and limitations as well.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Keep the carbon credit life cycle as short as possible – 75% of our credits in 2024 came directly from project developers and their nominated dispensaries (as opposed to intermediaries on the secondary market), maximising the proportion of purchase price which goes to the developer.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Locally-appropriate projects only – we take care to ensure that supported projects are being applied in appropriate geographies, where they can have the greatest impact.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Deep project-level scrutiny – our extensive assessment criteria are specific to each type of project, and we assess every project against these criteria, ensuring the project’s specifics have been taken into account.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Methodological consensus – we synthesise data we receive from our partners Sylvera, BeZero Carbon, Calyx Global and Renoster) with our own in-house analysis to uncover where there is consensus about project quality, and improve confidence.</li>
</ul>

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<h2>How to evaluate carbon credits: Ecologi&#8217;s scoring methodology</h2>
We designed a three-layer assessment process which takes into account the merits and limitations of the carbon standard used, the carbon credit methodology used, and of the individual project design.
The tables below summarise some of the data inputs we use at each stage.

<h3>Assessment level: Carbon Standard</h3>
Examples: Gold Standard, Verra, Puro Earth, Isometric, Plan Vivo.

<h3>Assessment level: Methodology (or ‘Protocol’)</h3>
Examples: GS TPDDTEC, VM0048, ACM0002.

<h3>Assessment level: Project</h3>
Examples: GS 10790, VCS 1571.

Criteria in the assessment are categorised as either quality criteria or risk criteria, and are segmented by our three pillars of impact: Climate, Nature and People. Based on how it meets each criterion, the project gains points for quality criteria, and loses points for excess risk – ultimately giving a risk-adjusted value out of 100 for each of these pillars.
Having gathered our risk-adjusted pillar scores, we use our own unique scoring formula which weights the risk-adjusted Climate score of the project equally with the combined risk-adjusted Nature and People scores. The formula then produces an ‘overall’ score (also out of 100) for the project. In order to be supplied by Ecologi, projects must meet a minimum overall score of 80, and must achieve no lower than 65 in any given risk-adjusted pillar score.

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<h2>Key questions to ask carbon credit suppliers</h2>
Selecting the right carbon credit provider is important to help guide you to make informed choices as part of your corporate sustainability strategy. Before purchasing carbon credits, businesses should ask:
<h3>Project quality </h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you assess/validate/underwrite project quality? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do your projects get good ratings from the ratings agencies? If so, what ratings are they?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you source credits directly from project developers, or from the secondary market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you monitor projects over time to ensure continued success, and how do you remedy it, if a project&#8217;s quality drops?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Due diligence</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you ensure you are supporting the right projects in the right locations?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you account for project permanence and mitigate risks?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">What makes your projects additional?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you assess the project&#8217;s impacts on climate, nature and people?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Positioning</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you contribute to the development of a high integrity voluntary carbon market?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you align your portfolios with the Oxford Principles? If so, how?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">How do you reflect ICVCM guidance on carbon credit methodologies and technologies?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Do you build multi-year portfolios that align to mid- &amp; long-term SBTs?</li>
</ul>
As the voluntary carbon market evolves, corporate buyers have the power and the responsibility to demand high-impact credits to drive real climate progress. This means buyers have a responsibility to do due diligence before placing an order for carbon credits.

<h2>Take action in the voluntary carbon market</h2>
As a business committed to corporate climate action, understanding the voluntary carbon market is essential for making informed decisions about carbon credits. Our comprehensive whitepaper provides deeper insights into creating an effective sustainability strategy.
<a href="https://cms-assets.offset.earth/app/uploads/20250428124112/Ecologi_Whitepaper_A4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download our full whitepaper</a> to learn how your business can navigate the voluntary carbon market with confidence.

<h2>Connect with one of our climate experts</h2>
Please complete our form to arrange a 30-minute discovery call to discuss your goals and get a tailored solution for your business.

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It’s not all bad. While there’s a lot of negative news about the climate, let’s not forget the good stuff. Find climate wins, reasons to be hopeful and plenty of positivity in our good news timeline.

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