Australia has proposed a legislated market for biodiversity based on an existing carbon credits scheme which generates Australian carbon credit units (ACCU) from land-based projects. This provides a unique opportunity to assess the potential for markets to benefit biodiversity. We assessed the extent to which projects under the ACCU scheme overlap potential threatened species habitat, compared that to overlap afforded by protected areas, and compared the ability of different project types to deliver potential benefits to species most impacted by habitat loss. Projects are primarily located in low-cost, marginal arid lands, a pattern that reflects that of the protected area estate. Projects are smaller and fewer in number in more productive lands close to human populations. These lands also overlap most threatened species habitat, hence those species most in need of habitat restoration are the least likely to have their habitat restored under the ACCU scheme. Projects, however, do overlap the geographic range of 32% of the 1,660 threatened species assessed, including for 275 species with <17% of their range in protected areas. Biodiversity markets must incentivize actions in areas of high biodiversity value underpinned by regulations that align with national priorities for biodiversity conservation.

澳大利亚提出了一个基于现有碳信用计划的生物多样性立法市场，该计划从陆地项目产生澳大利亚碳信用单位 （ACCU）。这为评估市场造福生物多样性的潜力提供了一个独特的机会。我们评估了 ACCU 计划下的项目与潜在受威胁物种栖息地重叠的程度，与保护区提供的重叠程度进行比较，并比较了不同项目类型为受栖息地丧失影响最大的物种提供潜在利益的能力。项目主要位于低成本、边缘干旱的土地上，这种模式反映了保护区的模式。在靠近人口的生产力更高的土地上，项目规模较小，数量也较少。这些土地还与最受威胁的物种栖息地重叠，因此那些最需要栖息地恢复的物种最不可能在 ACCU 计划下恢复其栖息地。然而，项目确实与所评估的 1,660 个受威胁物种中的 32% 的地理范围重叠，其中包括 275 个物种，其分布范围占保护区的 <17%。生物多样性市场必须激励在生物多样性价值高的领域采取行动，并以符合国家生物多样性保护优先事项的法规为基础。