Current catchment markets
A catchment market is an online marketplace where landholders in a particular catchment can offer to supply nature-based projects on their land and third parties can bid for the rights to the environmental services delivered by these projects.
EnTrade's markets make it easier for:
- landholders to earn money from delivering nature-based projects such as woodlands, wetlands and arable reversion to grassland
- businesses to meet their environmental goals by purchasing environmental credits for nutrient mitigation, carbon sequestration and biodiversity gain.
EnTrade’s markets are designed to provide a transparent, fair and efficient way to secure nature-based projects and trade the environmental services that they deliver, including nutrient reduction and biodiversity gain.
Somerset Catchment Market
The Somerset Catchment Market is an environmental services market that aims to accelerate the delivery of nature-based projects such as the creation of new woodlands and wetlands across South Somerset.
The market has been developed by EnTrade in consultation with the former South Somerset District Council, Natural England and the Environment Agency.
Bristol Avon Catchment Market
The Bristol Avon Catchment Market is being delivered through a collaboration between Avon Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and EnTrade.
The market delivers local, high-impact and verified projects to restore nature and deliver a range of environmental services such as increased biodiversity, carbon reduction and natural flood management.
How the markets work
EnTrade has successfully set up markets for a range of environmental services, including nutrient mitigation, biodiversity, natural flood management and carbon abatement.
During a market round landholders make offers for the minimum payment they need to carry out a nature-based project, and buyers enter bids stating their maximum payment to secure the credits for environmental services they need.
Once supplier offers and buyer bids have been received, an independent market settlement process is used to determine the combination of offers and bids that most efficiently matches project supply with the demand for each credit type.
How we ensure market integrity
To participate in the market, nature-based projects must meet approved standards using up-to-date metrics so that buyers can be confident that the credits will be accepted by relevant authorities.
The market settlement process has been designed in collaboration with experts from Exeter University to ensure fair payments for both buyers and sellers, with any surplus shared equitably between participants.
Legally binding contracts are put in place with project suppliers to ensure that the projects will be maintained throughout the lifetime of the project.
The independent Environmental Markets Board has appointed EnTrade to operate the Bristol Avon, Somerset and Solent Catchment Markets. The Board ensures that market operators maintain the market infrastructures, systems and processes necessary to ensure genuine, lasting and additional environmental improvements, which are robustly verified and transparently documented.
Organisations (environmental credit buyers)
EnTrade’s market-led approach gives organisations a way to:
- demonstrate leadership in driving nature’s recovery
- comply with regulatory and planning requirements, such as nutrient neutrality and biodiversity net gain
- meet consumer and employee expectations that organisations will play a role in restoring nature
- build resilience in a changing policy environment
We are available to discuss how one of our markets can help you achieve your environmental goals.
Contact us
Contact us if you would like to know more about EnTrade or are interested in participating in our markets.