Voluntary Nature Values Trading — First Private Biodiversity Credit Transaction, Kuikkasuo Mire (Finland)

Finland's Ministry of the Environment issued a Decree on Voluntary Ecological Compensation on 15 September 2023 under the Nature Conservation Act, and launched the "Marketta" project to build a framework for voluntary nature-value and biodiversity-credit markets modelled on voluntary carbon markets. Under the framework, companies can buy "nature value hectares" from landowners who commit to restoring habitats, with credits intended to back verifiable nature-related corporate claims via a planned public registry designed to guard against greenwashing.

In March 2026, the retail and service cooperative Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa (part of the S Group) agreed with private landowner Petri Purmonen, facilitated by the North Karelia Forest Management Association, to restore the 12-hectare Kuikkasuo mire near Ilomantsi. Restoration work involves removing plantation trees and blocking drainage ditches to return the mire to a natural hydrological state; the landowner was paid a price described as "tens of thousands of euros" while retaining the value of standing timber, unlike under state-aided conservation schemes. The deal is one of the first private transactions under Finland's new voluntary compensation framework, and S Group has set a target of producing 500 restored nature-value hectares by 2035.

The market remains at an early, pilot stage. As of autumn 2025 the Ministry of the Environment itself noted only a few examples of voluntary ecological compensation nationally had progressed to formal consideration, and the verification and public-registry infrastructure needed to prevent double-counting or greenwashing is still being built. No independent outcome data yet exists on whether restored mires like Kuikkasuo deliver the intended biodiversity or hydrological gains, since restoration only began in 2026.

Read the full analysis: https://www.nordiskpost.com/2026/04/24/finland-expands-biodiversity-restoration/