The China Nature Markets Initiative is an 18-month project bringing together the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS), Morphosis, and The Landbanking Group (TLG) in association with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The initiative tests whether nature markets can be designed, piloted, and scaled in China in ways that integrate ecological assets into financial systems.
Focusing on the biodiversity-rich region of Ya’an (Sichuan), the project moves from concept to practice, developing high-integrity models using both stand-alone biodiversity credits aligned with the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) and integrated nature credits that capture broader ecosystem services including water regulation and soil health. Underpinned by AI-driven monitoring and a shared evidence infrastructure for ecological assessment, verification, and registry, the initiative aims to produce a credible, scalable, and internationally relevant blueprint for nature markets, positioning China at the forefront of mobilising investment into resilience for the natural world.
This policy paper is part of a series of publications emerging from the China Nature Markets Initiative. It examines where nature markets genuinely add value within China’s existing institutional landscape and where strengthening current instruments would be better. China has already built one of the world’s most extensive systems for governing ecological outcomes, with ecological compensation, green finance, and environmental exchanges already operating at scale. Rather than asking whether China needs nature markets in the abstract, this paper tests why nature markets are needed alongside that established system, and identifies precisely where a governed exchange adds value that deepening existing mechanisms cannot.
This policy paper can be read in conjunction with the accompanying technical paper: China’s Technical Foundations for Nature Markets.
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