The Earth Credit Methodology defines how ecological condition is measured and how measurements convert to Earth Credit quantities. It is the methodological foundation of the entire Earth Credit ecosystem.
The methodology is designed around one principle: measure what the Earth produces, not what the market values. Landseed verifies ecological condition. The market prices it. These functions are never combined.
1 Earth Credit = 1 acre-year of verified ecological condition, normalized to reference state
An Earth Credit represents one acre of land, verified for one year, measured against the ecological reference condition for its biome type. Properties in better ecological condition produce more Earth Credits per acre. Properties in degraded condition produce fewer.
Earth Credits = Verified Acres × ECI_conservative × Threat Multiplier
Three components multiply together:
The ECI measures six dimensions of ecosystem health, based on the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting — Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA), adopted by the UN Statistical Commission and implemented by 94 countries:
Each dimension is scored from 0 to 1 by comparing measured values against published scientific reference conditions using the SEEA EA normalization formula:
Indicator = (Measured Value − Collapse Threshold) / (Reference Value − Collapse Threshold)
A methodological floor of 0.05 prevents any dimension from reaching true zero. The six dimension scores are aggregated using a penalized geometric mean (Greco, Ishizaka, Tasiou & Torrisi, 2019; operationalized by Mariani, Zavarrone & D'Urso, 2022). This method:
The UNDP Human Development Index adopted the geometric mean in 2010 for the same reason — to prevent high performance in one dimension from masking collapse in another.
The biggest failure in ecosystem credit history is paying to protect land that was never going to be destroyed. Costa Rica's PSA program paid landowners to maintain forests already legally protected from deforestation. Verra-certified carbon offsets were overestimated by 3 to 240 times in some studies.
The Earth Credit methodology prevents this with a threat multiplier based on three independently published data sources:
Land facing genuine threat earns full minting rate. Land with no demonstrated threat earns a reduced rate. All inputs are publicly available datasets — Landseed reads the data, Landseed does not assign it.
Every ECI calculation carries measurement uncertainty. The methodology uses the lower bound of the 90% confidence interval for minting — meaning Landseed systematically issues fewer Earth Credits than the point estimate would justify. As measurements accumulate over time, confidence intervals narrow and minting precision improves. Early credits are conservative. Later credits are more precise.
Every measurement is compared against a reference condition — what the ecosystem looks like when fully intact. References are drawn from published sources: state natural heritage programs, NatureServe ecological classifications, USGS National Land Cover Database, EPA aquatic surveys, USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis, and peer-reviewed ecological literature.
Project developers and land trusts have zero influence over reference condition definitions. One reference per ecosystem type per ecoregion. Published, version-controlled, and subject to independent advisory board review with 60-day public comment periods before any changes. This is the single most important institutional safeguard in the methodology.
The Earth Credit Methodology aligns with:
Four of six dimensions are primarily assessed via freely available satellite data (Sentinel-2, MODIS, LiDAR). The compositional dimension — what species live on the property — requires field technology: environmental DNA sampling, acoustic monitoring (AudioMoth recorders at approximately $50 per unit), and camera traps. A full six-dimension assessment costs $16,000–38,000 for a 1,000-acre property, dropping to $8,000–20,000 for subsequent annual monitoring as the baseline is established.
The complete technical methodology — with 32 indicator specifications, exact formulas, worked examples, sensitivity analyses, and 40+ academic citations — is available upon request. Contact outreach@landseed.earth.