Buying statutory biodiversity credits
Buying statutory biodiversity credits is a last resort for developers who are unable to use on-site or off-site units to deliver biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Applies to England
You cannot use an agent or representative to act on your behalf to buy statutory biodiversity credits.
How to buy statutory biodiversity credits
You will need to:
- upload your statutory (official) biodiversity metric calculation tool
- confirm the development details
- add a purchase order number, if you have one
- add your statutory biodiversity credits from the metric
We will process your application.
A third-party supplier will use your information for customer due diligence checks. These are to check you are who you say you are and to carry out anti-money laundering checks. Our privacy notice in the service tells you how we will be sharing your information.
If you do not pass the checks, you will not be able to continue with your application.
Once you have received your estimated credits cost, the service will guide through the process of what to do next in order to meet your BNG requirements.
All prices listed in this service do not include VAT, but VAT is payable.
Signing into this service
You will need a Government Gateway account and a Defra account to sign into this service.
If you do not already have these accounts, or want to create new ones, you can set these up when you use this service.
You should use your own email address for these accounts, so we can contact you about your application. It can be either your personal email or your work email, if you are applying for an organisation.
Contact us if you need help
Telephone: 0300 060 3900
Opening times:
- March to September – Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm
- October to February – Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm
Closed on public holidays.
Email: biodiversitynetgainenquiries@naturalengland.org.uk
We aim to reply within 10 working days.