CreditNature · Integrity Positioning

NARIA → IAPB & High-Level-Principles Crosswalk

Mapped against the two standards the market now uses to define "high integrity" — the IAPB 6 measurement criteria and the 21 BCA–IAPB–WEF High-Level Principles — NARIA is scientifically strong and structurally well-positioned, but partial overall: clean on measurement, AfN accreditation and registry independence; gap-heavy on demand-side and equity principles. On the CDC /81 grid (Verra 55 · Plan Vivo 60 · Terrasos 36), NARIA self-assesses at ~50/81 — below the 61 threshold, competitive mid-pack, closable to 60+ in 12 months.

📅 22 June 2026 🧠 Brain (NARIA) + Firecrawl (IAPB / WEF / BCA) 🔗 Companion to the Comparator Scorecard

~50 / 81

NARIA self-assessment on the CDC grid · threshold 61 · Verra 55 / PV 60 / Terrasos 36

5 ✅ · 12 🟡 · 4 ❌

NARIA vs the 21 High-Level Principles

E-01

Only AfN-accredited ecosystem-condition method (27 Oct 2025)

0 ❌ in science

Every gap is in demand / equity / governance — none in HLP 1–10 (science)

Comms guardrail. The defensible claim is "AfN-accredited + IAPB-measurement-aligned + mapped against the 21 HLPs with a public gap roadmap." Avoid the unqualified "HLP-compliant" — no certifying body exists yet (BCA Assessment Matrix v1.0 is in piloting) and four HLPs are open gaps.

1 · NARIA in one box — from the brain, not fabricated

What it is	Nature Assessment, Reporting, Investment & Assurance — CreditNature's proprietary ecosystem-condition + nature-credit framework, applied at 200+ ha landscape scale.
Four metrics	ECI (Ecosystem Condition Index, 0–100, headline) · BTD (Bird Trait Diversity) · VSD (Vegetation Spatial Diversity) · LC (Landscape Connectivity); TFM in development.
Accredited under	Accounting for Nature (AfN) — method E-01, full accreditation 27 Oct 2025 at High & Very High data-quality levels. The only AfN-accredited ecosystem-condition methodology in the market.
Developed by	CreditNature; science led by Simon Morgan, with Barney Bedford (AfN), Sophy Jones, founder Dr Paul Jepson. Reference states on the Perino et al. framework; hosted within NatureScot's ERC.
Credit unit	One nature credit = one verified unit of ecosystem-condition uplift (ex-post, on a Year-0 verified baseline).

2 · NARIA vs the IAPB 6 essential measurement criteria

IAPB criterion	NARIA coverage	Verdict
1.1 — Independence of validation/verification bodies	AfN accredits the methodology; NICs on the independent AfN NxtNature registry. Project-level independent verifier + Credibiliti committee not yet stood up.	🟡 Partial
1.2 — Robustness of the V&V process	Documented AfN Expert-Rules review; two-tier data-quality gates; Year-0 → Year-2 issuance.	✅ Full
2 — Comparability / aggregation (label tbc)	ECI aggregable 0–100; multi-site live (Oxygen Conservation). Peer-reviewed cross-site validation not yet published.	🟡 Partial
3 — Verifiable outcomes & transparent risk disclosure	Outcome-based crediting; buyer-facing risk disclosure & payment-on-verification rules not yet published. (Market's weakest axis — mean 1.7.)	🟡 Partial
4 — Science-based verifiable measurements	In-situ, multi-metric, AfN-gated; Perino reference states; no satellite-only inference. NARIA's strongest axis (market best, mean 2.4).	✅ Full
5 — Social equity, FPIC & data governance (label tbc)	UK contracts robust; FPIC/IFC-PS7 & CARE data governance not documented for international projects.	❌→🟡
6 — (label held in source figure — confirm)	Confirm criterion name against the IAPB Measurement WG report before external scoring.	— tbc

Criteria 1, 3, 4 named verbatim from Kim et al. 2025 (Proc. R. Soc. B, applied the 6 criteria to 11 suppliers, market mean 2/3). Criteria 2, 5, 6 labels sit inside a chart image; content inferred, labels to confirm.

3 · The 21 High-Level Principles — three themes

THEME 1 · HLP 1–10

Verified positive outcomes for nature

Objectives, demand integrity, issuance, additionality, baselines, durability, leakage, MRV, audits.

THEME 2 · HLP 11–17

Equity & fairness for people

Land/water rights, human & Indigenous rights, FPIC, IPLC governance, no-harm, benefit-sharing, grievance.

THEME 3 · HLP 18–21

Good governance for high-integrity markets

Transparent governance, data sovereignty, framework alignment, tradability.

The HLP white-paper contributor list names Paul Jepson (CreditNature) and Simon Morgan (then ValueNature, now CN Science Lead) as BCA Task Force members, plus Adrian Ward (CEO, Accounting for Nature International). CN co-authored the rulebook; CN's accreditor co-authored the rulebook.

4 · NARIA vs the 21 High-Level Principles

HLP	Principle	NARIA coverage	Verdict
1	Defined objectives & activity types	Defined condition objectives; uplift vs maintenance distinguished; anti-double-counting protocol for stacking not published.	🟡
2	Demand integrity & mitigation hierarchy	Buyers not gated on mitigation-hierarchy completion. Same gap as Verra & Plan Vivo.	❌
3	Credit issuance & tracking	Independent issuance/tracking on AfN NxtNature; georeferenced data.	✅
4	Ex-ante & ex-post credits	Credits issued ex-post on verified uplift — the preferred, robust form.	✅
5	Additionality	Counterfactual/reference-state logic; Year-0 baseline. Degradation cut-off date not published.	🟡
6	Baselines	Year-0 baseline to AfN High/Very High; Perino reference states.	✅
7	Durability	Long-term structures (Broughton LLP). Disclosed durability timeframe per project not codified.	🟡
8	Leakage	Landscape scale lowers local leakage; explicit assessment protocol not published.	🟡
9	MRV	Robust biodiversity MRV incl. uncertainty; TNFD/ESRS E4/UK SRS-aligned. Governance/socio-economic MRV partial.	🟡
10	Third-party audits	AfN methodology oversight; project-level start + 5-yr independent audit cadence not codified.	🟡
11	Legal & customary land/water rights	Formal UK landowner agreements; counsel engaged. Independent rights due-diligence not codified.	🟡
12	Human & Indigenous rights	UK context (limited IP exposure). UNDRIP/PS7 alignment for international not documented.	🟡
13	Free, Prior & Informed Consent (FPIC)	Not formally operated; critical before NZ/Brazil/Africa/Marine delivery.	❌
14	IPLC involvement in governance	Project-level engagement at Broughton; no standing IPLC governance mechanism.	🟡
15	No harm	Restoration-by-design; no-harm safeguards not formalised as published protocol.	🟡
16	Benefit sharing	Project-specific terms; no published benefit-sharing / price re-evaluation standard.	❌
17	Grievance mechanism	Not established at scheme level.	❌
18	Transparent governance structure	AfN + NxtNature give real disclosure; full public methodology pack not consolidated.	🟡
19	Data sovereignty	UK context; CARE / Indigenous data-sovereignty policy not published.	🟡
20	Alignment with frameworks	Strong — TNFD, ESRS E4, UK SRS, KM-GBF, NatureScot ERC, BSI Flex 701.	✅
21	Tradability	NICs on NxtNature; Green Margin via Stabiliti. Originator attribution + benefit-flow-back on secondary trade not codified.	🟡
Tally		✅ 5 Full · 🟡 12 Partial · ❌ 4 Gap (HLP 2, 13, 16, 17)

Pattern: every ❌ is in demand integrity + equity/governance — none in the science block (HLP 1–10 are all ✅/🟡). NARIA's science is sound; the gaps are policy artefacts CN has not yet written down.

5 · HLP / CDC Assessment Matrix self-run — NARIA on the /81 grid

CDC category (max)	NARIA position	Est.
1 · Trust & Confidence (/24)	Strong transparency, legal rights, AfN/NxtNature independence; weak mitigation-hierarchy gating & legal screening.	~14 / 24
2 · Inclusion of stakeholders (/18)	Weakest — project-level only; no published socio-economic / FPIC / benefit-share / grievance standards.	~7 / 18
3 · Biodiversity outcome & financial (/18)	Moderate-strong — baseline/additionality robust; aggregation pending peer review.	~12 / 18
4 · Measurement, Reporting & Verification (/21)	Strongest — AfN-accredited, multi-metric, in-situ.	~17 / 21
TOTAL (self-assessment)	Below the 61 threshold · above Terrasos (36) · within reach of Verra (55) / PV (60) · uniquely AfN-backed.	≈ 50 / 81

Self-assessment, not a formal CDC assessment. CDC publishes only qualitative bands beyond the three named totals. The shortfall is concentrated in Category 2 (Inclusion) and demand/governance criteria — the axes the whole market scores weakest on (Kim et al. 2025). None of the shortfall is in MRV or biodiversity science.

6 · Three claims CreditNature can make

"AfN-accredited — and AfN co-authored the integrity rulebook." NARIA (E-01) is the only AfN-accredited ecosystem-condition methodology, and AfN International's CEO is a named contributor to the BCA–IAPB–WEF High-Level Principles. CN's independent accreditor sits on the body defining "high integrity."
"Strongest where the market is best-rewarded: measurement." On the IAPB 6 criteria, NARIA is ✅ on science-based measurement and V&V robustness — the axes the market scores highest (mean 2.4) — via in-situ, multi-metric (ECI/BTD/VSD/LC), AfN-gated measurement with no satellite-only inference. Every science HLP (1–10) is ✅/🟡, never a gap.
"Integrity is the unclaimed high ground — and CN names its own gaps." No published setter clears 61/81; NARIA self-assesses ~50/81 with a documented, time-boxed roadmap to close the four open HLPs. The differentiator is AfN accreditation + a credible, transparent gap-closure plan + Broughton Q3-2026 first issuance as proof.

7 · What's needed to close the gaps

Tier 1 · 90 days · no method change

Publish & gate

HLP 2: buyer purchase-eligibility protocol (mitigation-hierarchy + IAPB use-case attestation) — live for Broughton Q3-2026.
HLP 16: standard benefit-sharing + price re-evaluation clause (BCA ~80%-to-custodians intl. default).
HLP 17: scheme-level grievance mechanism (UNGP-aligned).
HLP 18: consolidate NARIA v1.0 pack + use-of-proceeds + legal-screening checklist on creditnature.com/methodology.

Tier 2 · Q3–Q4 2026

Governance scaffold

Stand up Credibiliti Rating Committee (3 ext / 2 int; charter + recusal) → IAPB 1.1 + CDC independence + HLP 10/18.
Named independent project-level VVB, fixed audit cadence (start + 5-yr); Big Four assurance of Credibiliti outputs.

Tier 3 · pre-international

FPIC & data sovereignty

FPIC / IFC-PS7 operating procedure (HLP 13).
CARE-principle data-sovereignty policy (HLP 19, IAPB Crit 5). Simon Morgan owns these relationships.

Tier 4 · evidence base

Peer review

Publish NARIA methodology (Ecological Indicators) + cross-site aggregation analysis (Oxygen Conservation) → upgrades IAPB Crit 2 + CDC aggregation 🟡→✅.

Forcing action now. Confirm the IAPB criteria 2/5/6 labels against the IAPB Measurement Working Group report before external publication; and apply to the BCA HLP Assessment Matrix v1.0 pilot (secretariat@biodiversitycreditalliance.org) — CN's Jepson/Morgan/AfN links make this a fast, credible front-door.