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Publication - Advice and guidance

Ecosystem Restoration Code (ERC): A Competent Model for private investment in nature restoration in Scotland

Published
25 March 2026
From
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, +2 more … Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity
Directorate
Environment and Forestry Directorate, +1 more … Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate
Topic
Business, industry and innovation, Economy, Environment and climate change, +1 more … Farming and rural
ISBN
9781807750923

This Ecosystem Restoration Code (ERC) Competent Model provides a template for further development and testing of a functioning high-integrity market mechanism for investment in nature restoration. It sets out the requirements and criteria that ERC projects would need to meet.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Footnotes

1 Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation - gov.scot

2 Natural Capital Market Framework - gov.scot

3 Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital - gov.scot

4 Ecosystem Restoration Code: engagement paper - gov.scot

5 Ecosystem Restoration Code (ERC): engagement phase results and analysis - gov.scot

6 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Ecosystem Approach

7 An example of a similar technical standard is the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest Project Standards for Landscape Scale Rainforest Restoration: Saving Scotland's Rainforest with Natural Capital Investment | Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust

8 An example of a similar measurement protocol is the Peatland Code Field Protocol v1.2.pdf

9 Both the Woodland Carbon and Peatland Codes use the UK Land Carbon Registry

10 What is a unit of nature? Measurement challenges in the emerging biodiversity credit market | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

11 CivTech Scotland

12 NARIA - CreditNature

13 Nature Investment Programme | BSI

14 This initial position on the additionality of ERC management actions on protected areas is informed by: NatureScot position on the acceptability of delivering NPF4 Policy 3 biodiversity measures on protected areas | NatureScot

15 Harman et al., (2021). Stream Mitigation Accounting Metrics: Exploring the Use of Linear-based, Area-based, and Volume Units of Measure to Calculate Impacts and Offsets to Different Stream Archetypes. EPA 840-R-21-003. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

16 Home - Terrasos

17 Delivering Community Benefits from Land

18 NARIA - CreditNature

19 Further explanation of credit discounting and multiplying is provided at section 3.7.2 NOTES 6-8. SG may consider the potential use of credit multipliers as a means of incentivising other positive activities that can support related policy goals (e.g. ERC projects that are designed to support the delivery of Nature Networks and / or are seeking recognition as a Nature30 site)

20 The term “irreplaceable biodiversity” is used here in its plain-English sense only and has no legal meaning in Scotland.

21 NARIA - CreditNature

Contact

Email: PINC@gov.scot

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