Voluntariness of Biodiversity Offsets

As voluntary biodiversity offsets are a relatively new phenomenon, most evidence and literature relate to offsets under regulatory schemes. These are rooted in numerous compensation approaches worldwide, ranging from long-standing schemes such as US Wetland Mitigation, German Impact Mitigation Regulation, and Australian offset schemes to the recent uptake of biodiversity offsets in several European countries, e.g., France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, as well as the discussion on the introduction of an offset policy at supranational (EU) level in the scope of the EU’s no net loss initiative. These schemes are, on the one hand, discussed as role models and sources of information. On the other hand, they have been criticized for the inclusion of market-based mechanisms and the use of habitat banking for the implementation of offsets.