Work package 4

WP4 builds a national open biodiversity offset register to allow monitoring of offset trades and an objective post-evaluation of offset outcomes and impact (PI Kujala). Lack of centralised information on offsets and unified performance metrics prevents summarising biodiversity impacts across offset trades (HK1-3, 9). This represents a vast information gap between policy goals and outcomes, leaving governments and societies without knowledge about the impacts of biodiversity offsetting and unable to improve them. WP4 will develop a national biodiversity offset register, where information on biodiversity losses and gains, approvals and compliance of offsets can be systematically collected. We will build the register under the national Research Infrastructure FinBIF in collaboration with the Finnish
Ministry of the Environment. We will also lead novel research in developing ecologically relevant offset trade metrics, allowing impacts to be summarised across offset trades. The latter will be a collaboration with WP5, in which the most suitable metrics will be utilised.