The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) views the development of voluntary nature credits positively, as they can potentially provide new income opportunities for landowners, as well as strengthen the funding needed to improve biodiversity.  

MTK is strongly committed to building practical nature credits market both in Finland and at the EU level. The organization's aim is to benefit both multi-objective landowners and nature. 

“In Finland, nature credits market has been developed systematically for several years. MTK is among the pioneers. EU-level actions must support the line we have chosen and must not cause setbacks to the work”, emphasizes MTK's forest director Marko Mäki-Hakola. 

It is positive that the roadmap recognizes landowners as a prerequisite for creating the market. If the nature credits market system is perceived as too difficult or if landowners are not motivated to engage in actions that improve the state of nature for some other reason, the supply needed for the market will not materialize. Therefore, the starting point for development work at the EU level must also be the needs of landowners. 

“It is good that the Commission intends to make use of the European Board on Agriculture and Food in the next stages of the work. Similarly, the Forest and Forestry Stakeholder Platform must also be closely involved in the development. MTK will certainly seek direct representation in the groups that the Commission will establish in the next phases”, says MTK’s lawyer Anna-Rosa Asikainen. 

The upcoming actions include several steps that are worth supporting, e.g. setting up an expert group and evaluating supply and demand for nature credits. However, the Commission should review its plans regarding the relationship between nature credits and carbon credits. MTK finds it problematic that these two are linked in the roadmap. Despite synergies, clarity, simplicity, and manageability require keeping these two concepts and markets separate. This should have been clearly outlined in the roadmap.  

In Finland, voluntary ecological offsetting regulated by the Nature Conservation Act has been seen as one of the key factors generating demand for the market. According to MTK's assessment, nature value hectares verified by a national authority will form an essential part of the market, although there must also be the possibility to trade other types of nature values alongside them. Thus, MTK is concerned that the roadmap only recognizes certified actions. 

“Nature-positive actions are local. Therefore, the goal should not be limited to a single EU-wide certification model. Instead, the market should be allowed to develop while taking into account the specific characteristics of each member state”, comments Asikainen. 

MTK continues to advance the nature credits market and related landowner-oriented services in a project funded by the Kone Foundation. 

“MTK is ready to cooperate with the Commission in the project to ensure that our practical results can also be utilized in EU-level development”, promises Mäki-Hakola. 

Additional information: 

Marko Mäki-Hakola, forest director, tel. +358 40 502 6810 

Anna-Rosa Asikainen, lawyer (nature conservation and biodiversity policy), puh. +358 40 920 9858 

topics: eu-commission