Biodiversity credits are being hailed as a major innovation in financing nature, with projections of up to USD 2 billion annually by 2030. Yet, these instruments build on decades of market-based approaches that have often failed to deliver on their ecological and financial promises.

This presentation explores a different perspective—focusing not on why these instruments persist, but on what they do in practice. By examining the everyday organisational work behind biodiversity markets, the project reveals how small, routine actions help sustain the illusion of progress and possibility.

Speaker

Sylvain Maechler is a Postdoctoral Researcher in International Relations at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Governance Centre. His research examines how global economic actors respond to the ecological crisis, with a particular focus on biodiversity finance. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Lausanne, where his dissertation, "Accounting for Nature: Risk, Uncertainty, and the Global Political Economy of the Ecological Crisis", received the Faculty Award for excellence.

Sylvain Maechler, is currently on a Postdoc.Mobility: "Depoliticizing Uncomfortable Knowledge: Why and How Some Central Banks Attempt to Evade Environmental Issues".

CHAIR

James Hollway, Director, Global Governance Centre

SWIPE (Seminars for Work In ProgrEss) is a new work in progress series incubating and developing the next research in global governance. Lunch is provided to feed your feedback-producing brains, so please register so that we cater appropriately.