Valuing the Invaluable: Foundational Conditions and Corporate Buyer Profiles in the Swedish Biodiversity Credit Market
(2025) FMIM01 20251Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates biodiversity credits as an emerging market-based mechanism to promote and fund
biodiversity enhancing projects, with a particular focus on their structuring and valuation in a Swedish
context.
Employing an abductive approach, the study combines a comprehensive literature review with qualitative
interviews conducted with Swedish stakeholders across sectors such as forestry, mining, finance and real
estate.
The thesis addresses three core questions: how biodiversity credits are defined and structured, what
barriers and opportunities that affect their adoption, and what value drivers that shape organisational
perceptions and usage. The literature review outlines biodiversity credit definitions, challenges... (More) - This thesis investigates biodiversity credits as an emerging market-based mechanism to promote and fund
biodiversity enhancing projects, with a particular focus on their structuring and valuation in a Swedish
context.
Employing an abductive approach, the study combines a comprehensive literature review with qualitative
interviews conducted with Swedish stakeholders across sectors such as forestry, mining, finance and real
estate.
The thesis addresses three core questions: how biodiversity credits are defined and structured, what
barriers and opportunities that affect their adoption, and what value drivers that shape organisational
perceptions and usage. The literature review outlines biodiversity credit definitions, challenges in
quantifying ecological value, policy trends and pricing methodologies while the interviews reveal
corporate strategies, perceived benefits and adoption hurdles.
Key findings indicate that credible biodiversity credits require foundational principles like additionality
and permanence, drawing parallels with lessons from the voluntary carbon market. The research also
identifies different buyer profiles, ranging from high-intensity land users to passive positioners. These
perceive and may derive value from biodiversity credits in distinct ways, shaped by their operational
contexts and strategic priorities.
This study develops a two-layer framework for understanding biodiversity credit value: a binary threshold
of foundational conditions, and a set of corporate buyer profiles that reflect varying engagement logics.
By bridging ecological integrity with corporate value drivers, the thesis contributes to the biodiversity
finance discourse and offers practical insights for st (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Denna uppsats undersöker biokrediter som en framväxande marknadsbaserad mekanism för att främja och
finansiera projekt som stärker biologisk mångfald, med särskilt fokus på deras struktur och värdering i en
svensk kontext.
Genom en abduktiv ansats kombineras en omfattande litteraturgenomgång med kvalitativa intervjuer med
svenska intressenter från sektorer som skogsbruk, gruvindustri, finans och fastigheter.
Arbetet adresserar tre centrala frågor: hur biokrediter definieras och struktureras, vilka hinder och
möjligheter som påverkar deras användning, samt vilka värdedrivare som formar företags uppfattningar
och användning. Litteraturgenomgången behandlar definitioner av biokrediter, utmaningar i att kvantifiera
ekologiskt... (More) - Denna uppsats undersöker biokrediter som en framväxande marknadsbaserad mekanism för att främja och
finansiera projekt som stärker biologisk mångfald, med särskilt fokus på deras struktur och värdering i en
svensk kontext.
Genom en abduktiv ansats kombineras en omfattande litteraturgenomgång med kvalitativa intervjuer med
svenska intressenter från sektorer som skogsbruk, gruvindustri, finans och fastigheter.
Arbetet adresserar tre centrala frågor: hur biokrediter definieras och struktureras, vilka hinder och
möjligheter som påverkar deras användning, samt vilka värdedrivare som formar företags uppfattningar
och användning. Litteraturgenomgången behandlar definitioner av biokrediter, utmaningar i att kvantifiera
ekologiskt värde, policytrender och prissättningsmetoder, medan intervjuerna belyser företagsstrategier
samt upplevda fördelar och hinder för adoption.
Resultaten visar att trovärdiga biokrediter kräver grundläggande principer såsom additionalitet och
permanens, med lärdomar hämtade från den frivilliga kolkreditmarknaden. Studien identifierar även olika
köparprofiler, från aktörer med intensiv markanvändning till mer passiva aktörer. Dessa aktörer ser och
kan tillämpa biokrediter på olika sätt, beroende på deras operativa kontext och strategiska prioriteringar.
Uppsatsen utvecklar en tvådelat ramverk för att förstå biokrediters värde: en binär tröskel av
grundläggande villkor, och en samling företagsprofiler som speglar olika engagemangslogiker.
Genom att knyta samman ekologisk integritet med företags värdedrivare bidrar studien till diskussionen om
finansiering av ökad biologisk mångfald och erbjuder praktiska insikter för aktörer som vill utveckla
trovärdiga, relevanta och strategiskt förankrade biokreditlösningar. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9208595
- author
- Pedersen, Jacob LU and von Essen, Alexander LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Att värdera det ovärderliga: Grundläggande villkor och köparprofiler på den svenska biokreditmarknaden
- course
- FMIM01 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Biodiversity credits, Nature credits, Biodiversity, Nature finance, Environmental markets, Valuation of biodiversity, Corporate sustainability strategy, Market-based conservation, Ecological compensation, Ecosystem services valuation, Swedish biodiversity policy, Nature-positive business models
- report number
- LUTFD2/TFEM—25/5237--SE + (1–78)
- ISSN
- 1102-3651
- language
- English
- id
- 9208595
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-07 08:05:15
- date last changed
- 2025-08-07 08:05:15
@misc{9208595,
abstract = {{This thesis investigates biodiversity credits as an emerging market-based mechanism to promote and fund
biodiversity enhancing projects, with a particular focus on their structuring and valuation in a Swedish
context.
Employing an abductive approach, the study combines a comprehensive literature review with qualitative
interviews conducted with Swedish stakeholders across sectors such as forestry, mining, finance and real
estate.
The thesis addresses three core questions: how biodiversity credits are defined and structured, what
barriers and opportunities that affect their adoption, and what value drivers that shape organisational
perceptions and usage. The literature review outlines biodiversity credit definitions, challenges in
quantifying ecological value, policy trends and pricing methodologies while the interviews reveal
corporate strategies, perceived benefits and adoption hurdles.
Key findings indicate that credible biodiversity credits require foundational principles like additionality
and permanence, drawing parallels with lessons from the voluntary carbon market. The research also
identifies different buyer profiles, ranging from high-intensity land users to passive positioners. These
perceive and may derive value from biodiversity credits in distinct ways, shaped by their operational
contexts and strategic priorities.
This study develops a two-layer framework for understanding biodiversity credit value: a binary threshold
of foundational conditions, and a set of corporate buyer profiles that reflect varying engagement logics.
By bridging ecological integrity with corporate value drivers, the thesis contributes to the biodiversity
finance discourse and offers practical insights for st}},
author = {{Pedersen, Jacob and von Essen, Alexander}},
issn = {{1102-3651}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Valuing the Invaluable: Foundational Conditions and Corporate Buyer Profiles in the Swedish Biodiversity Credit Market}},
year = {{2025}},
}