Data & verification framework.
The verification chain behind every credit.
"Verification is only credible when conducted by parties independent of the claim being made."
biodiversity.earth does not conduct its own ecological surveys, appoint its own assurance provider, or generate its own satellite data. Each layer of the verification chain is independent — drawing either on publicly operated scientific infrastructure or requiring direct engagement by a third party.
This architecture is deliberate. The robustness of a biodiversity credit depends entirely on the independence of every entity involved in measuring and confirming it. The sections below describe the infrastructure, methodology, and frameworks that underpin every credit issued.
Verification infrastructure
Satellite monitoring data
Public and commercial earth observation
Land cover is monitored using multi-spectral satellite imagery from publicly operated and commercial sources. ESA's Copernicus programme provides Sentinel-2 data at 10-metre resolution with a five-day revisit cycle. The Landsat archive, operated jointly by USGS and NASA, supplies historical land-cover records spanning more than forty years. Where verification tasks require higher spatial resolution, commercial providers are used.
Ecological survey methodology
IUCN-aligned independent field surveys
Field surveys are conducted by independent ecologists contracted to the relevant project — not by biodiversity.earth. Ecologist independence is a verification requirement: the surveyor must have no financial interest in a favourable outcome. Surveys follow IUCN-aligned protocols and use transect-based methods to assess vegetation, birds, mammals, and herpetofauna. biodiversity.earth specifies the methodological framework; the ecologist is appointed independently.
Independent assurance
Buyer-appointed, ISAE 3000 compatible
Evidence packages are structured to support an ISAE 3000 assurance engagement. The assurance provider is appointed by the buyer, not by biodiversity.earth — this separation is deliberate. It means the entity providing assurance is entirely independent of the entity issuing the credit. Documentation is compatible with sustainability assurance practices at major professional services firms and specialist ecology assurers.
Framework alignment
Aligned to CSRD, TNFD, and the Global Biodiversity Framework
Credits and reporting documentation are structured for the disclosure frameworks that corporate buyers are required or expected to follow. This includes the European Commission's CSRD and ESRS E4 biodiversity standard, the TNFD consortium's nature-related financial disclosure recommendations, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted under the CBD, and the ISAE 3000 standard for assurance engagements on sustainability information.
Become a partner.
biodiversity.earth works with independent ecologists, project developers, data providers, and institutional partners. If your work intersects with the verification of nature recovery outcomes, we would like to hear from you.