01 / MONEY
Every euro has a purpose.
An auditable 2% calculation, ring-fenced records, matching confirmed in writing and expenditure according to the approved site plan.
MAJOR AMBITION. DEMONSTRABLE COMMITMENT.
Become a partner.
Through action.
And evidence.
Your.EARTH helps companies make nature restoration part of their projects. The pathway to Nature-Positive Partner connects commitment to clear requirements and independent assessment.
Explore the partner requirementsMONEY → PLAN → BASELINE → DELIVERY → OUTCOME
THE EVIDENCE BEHIND THE PARTNERSHIP
Five links.
Every step verifiable.
The proposed statement has a defined site, period and claim level. It does not say that the whole company is nature-positive. Your.EARTH organises the pathway; the independent assessor decides on the statement.
Contract · fund records · accountant’s report
02 / PLAN
Restoration starts with a good plan.
The landowner and a qualified ecologist develop measures that go beyond what legislation, permits, contracts and existing management already require.
03 / BASELINE
First, understand what is there.
Fixed monitoring plots for interventions, regular restoration and undisturbed reference. A documented method, coordinates, photographs and traceable source data.
04 / DELIVERY
Demonstrate what happens.
Record implementation and deviations. Demonstrate the origin of planting material. Document equipment, emission-free operating hours, completion and long-term stewardship.
05 / OUTCOME
Measure what changes.
Repeat measurements show whether nature improves more than under regular restoration. Results, uncertainties and necessary corrective actions come together in the annual report.
THE REQUIREMENTS IN PRACTICE
Clear agreements.
A commitment with substance.
The requirements below come from the working draft. For each site, we define scope, responsibilities, evidence and assessment dates in advance.
01 / Traceable financing
- 2% of the qualifying contract value defined in writing. The calculation must be reconstructable from the contract.
- Transfer within 60 days of each invoicing event; record the amount, contract and site.
- Your.EARTH’s one-to-one match is confirmed in writing at signing. This is a condition of the proposed model, not confirmation that matching is already available for a specific project.
- Release only after a decision on an approved site plan. The full 2% and match are allocated to field measures, restoration and stewardship.
- Programme, measurement, advisory and validation costs are charged and reported separately. An accountant checks the agreed financial procedures annually.
02 / Nature gains beyond required restoration
- Screening of the site, ownership, permits, nature status and existing management.
- Every measure demonstrably exceeds existing legal, permit, contractual and management requirements. Required restoration does not count as additional nature gain.
- A design developed with the land manager and a qualified ecologist, suited to habitat, soil and local species.
- Objectives, indicators and thresholds for corrective action defined in advance.
- A signed stewardship agreement and a monitoring period of at least five years, established before funds are released.
03 / A baseline and comparable monitoring plots
- The concept places the baseline after the works and before restoration or nature measures. Required restoration and additional measures remain separately substantiated.
- At least three treatment plots, two control plots with regular restoration and one undisturbed reference plot per site. Comparability must be justified.
- Fixed coordinates and photographic points. Monitoring covers, among other things, habitat extent, habitat condition, vegetation, invasive species and management.
- A monitoring partner supplies raw data, photographs and a signed methodology statement. Additional species surveys and eDNA can deepen the assessment.
04 / Careful delivery and long-term stewardship
- A dated delivery log: what, where, by whom and with which equipment. Deviations are recorded and approved.
- Native, regionally appropriate planting and seed material with traceable origin.
- Reporting of energy source and the share of emission-free machine hours. Fully emission-free delivery is an additional ambition in the concept.
- No pesticides or synthetic fertilisers in programme areas. Management arrangements, for example on mowing and invasive species, are recorded annually.
- Signed completion with photographs and clear responsibility for subsequent stewardship.
05 / Measure results, including disappointing ones
- Repeat measurements on the same plots, using the same method and in a comparable season, in years 1, 3 and 5. Core indicators are monitored annually where prescribed.
- Nature Yield: the change on treatment plots minus the change from regular restoration on control plots, adjusted for area.
- Reporting by site, with measurement years and an uncertainty range. Zero and negative results are also published; no extrapolation to unmeasured land.
- If the uncertainty range includes zero, no verified nature gain is claimed.
- If an action threshold is not met, a documented and approved corrective action follows within 90 days. Source data and photographs are retained for at least ten years after the final repeat measurement.
06 / Independent assessment and clear governance
- A signed agreement between the company, landowner and Your.EARTH. A programme board representing all three, with documented decisions and at least two meetings a year.
- A conflicts-of-interest register for approval, measurement and assessment. Advice and verification are separate roles.
- The programme board appoints the independent assessor. The assessor has no role in design, measurement or other programme activities and, under the concept, has had no commercial relationship with the partner or landowner in the preceding two years.
- People within Your.EARTH, RTE and related organisations do not sign the partner statement. The monitoring partner likewise does not validate its own measurement work.
- Document review, a site visit and interviews precede the decision. The independent assessor may issue a statement, impose conditions, suspend it or refuse it.
BUILDING THE EVIDENCE
Demonstrate commitment.
Earn the results.
The concept distinguishes partner levels with mandatory requirements and additional points. A higher score never replaces a mandatory requirement or the evidence needed for an outcome claim.
A substantiated commitment.
≥ 50% additional pointsThe mandatory requirements within the defined scope and a valid partner statement for at least one site. This status supports a clearly bounded statement about commitment.
Nature Yield reported.
≥ 75% additional pointsAdditionally: measures implemented, a first repeat measurement and a validated report for at least one site. The outcome is stated with an uncertainty range.
Nature Yield verified.
≥ 90% additional pointsAdditionally: at least two repeat measurements, in years 1 and 3, and demonstrable gains over regular restoration beyond measurement uncertainty. Stewardship remains secured.
Proposed thresholds from v0.1. The precise admission requirements for each entry and outcome level will be aligned in the final version. This page does not confer status or confirm existing partner statements.
A STATEMENT REQUIRES UPKEEP
Valid for a defined scope.
Maintained over time.
The concept provides for twelve-month statements, annual surveillance and a full reassessment every three years.
The statement specifies the site, claim level, validity and any conditions. Public use of the mark requires a valid statement number and a link to the corresponding register entry. This register and the statement procedure are part of the proposed arrangements.
No statement with a major nonconformity.
Missing mandatory evidence or a breach of additionality or independence prevents admission. An existing statement is suspended; under the concept, claims must be withdrawn within 30 days.
Improvements receive a deadline.
Minor documentation shortcomings that do not change the outcome may result in a conditional statement, with correction within 90 days.
Evidence must be renewed.
Under the concept, a statement expires if the annual report has not been revalidated within fifteen months of the previous validated report.
THE RIGHT CLAIM FOR THE RIGHT EVIDENCE
A partner for nature restoration.
Clear about what that means.
About commitment and the agreed site.
A valid statement can support a specific claim about participation, contribution and measured results. An outcome claim identifies the site, period, measurement result and supporting evidence.
No statement about the whole business.
The partnership does not certify an organisation as a whole as nature-positive. An ISO certificate, donation or client relationship does not automatically confer partner status. It does not demonstrate climate neutrality or carbon removal either.
A defined first application.
Version 0.1 focuses on the 2% partner pathway for terrestrial sites in the Netherlands. Marine and freshwater sites, sites outside the Netherlands and carbon removal accounting are outside this draft scope.
The other Your.EARTH financing concepts are separate pathways. They do not automatically qualify for a statement under YE-STD-01. Measurement methods, valuation factors, procedures and independent assessment must be completed before formal introduction.