biostudies-literatureUnknown36(5)Simpson KHPolicy tools are needed that allow reconciliation of human development pressures with conservation priorities. Biodiversity offsetting can be used to compensate for ecological losses caused by development activities. Landowners can choose to undertake conservation actions, including habitat restoration, to generate biodiversity offsets. Consideration of the incentives facing landowners as potential biodiversity offset providers and developers as potential buyers of credits is critical when considering the ecological and economic landscape-scale outcomes of alternative offset metrics. There is an expectation that landowners will always seek to conserve the least profitable land parcels, and, in turn, this determines the spatial location of biodiversity offset credits. We developed an ecologConservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biologye13906https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9796709biostudies-literatureEcological and economic implications of alternative metrics in biodiversity offset markets.PMC9796709Simpson KHde Vries FPDallimer MArmsworth PRHanley NfalseEcological and economic implications of alternative metrics in biodiversity offset markets.Policy tools are needed that allow reconciliation of human development pressures with conservation priorities. Biodiversity offsetting can be used to compensate for ecological losses caused by development activities. Landowners can choose to undertake conservation actions, including habitat restoration, to generate biodiversity offsets. Consideration of the incentives facing landowners as potential biodiversity offset providers and developers as potential buyers of credits is critical when considering the ecological and economic landscape-scale outcomes of alternative offset metrics. There is an expectation that landowners will always seek to conserve the least profitable land parcels, and, in turn, this determines the spatial location of biodiversity offset credits. We developed an ecolog2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Oct2025-04-04T10:59:04.396Z2025-04-04T10:59:04.396ZS-EPMC97967093528898610.1111/cobi.13906