Brussels, 25 February 2025
Most financial support for preserving biodiversity and restoring habitats comes from public grants. A recent LIFE networking meeting explored new ways of funding nature conservation and restoration.
Europe’s biodiversity is in serious decline. More than 80% of its protected habitats under the Habitats Directive are in poor condition. In most European countries, the cost of protecting nature mainly falls to public authorities — but other sources of finance could be used, according to discussions at the networking meeting on LIFE and Innovative Funding for Nature earlier in February. This is an important debate for achieving the objectives of the EU Nature Restoration Law and the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
The 2-day event built on the experience of LIFE projects and highlighted a range of ways nature conservation and restoration could be funded, including through philanthropy, corporate contributions and biodiversity credits. Such approaches will be vital as the EU faces an estimated €19 billion annual gap in the investment needed to achieve the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
More than 400 policymakers, LIFE project representatives and stakeholders from the public and private sectors attended the meeting to share their experiences and knowledge of innovative funding mechanisms. Presentations focused on opening up different sources of funding such as tax incentives, corporate contributions and blended finance to supplement public investment.
Among those taking part was LIFE Biorgest, which has analysed innovative financing mechanisms to boost forest biodiversity in Spain, such as new tax instruments and biodiversity credits.
Another approach discussed was using payments for ecosystem services. One example given was in Carmignano di Brenta, in the Veneto region of Italy, where a forested area (Bosco Limite) of higher biodiversity value than the previous farmland was created as part of the LIFE AQUOR project. During heavy rainfall, surface water is channeled into groundwater aquifers to alleviate long-term water scarcity. For the ecosystem services provided, the landowner receives payments from different public and private origins.
Other LIFE projects — including LIFE Olivares Vivos, Pennine PeatLIFE, LIFE Metamorphosis, LIFE IP Wild Atlantic Nature, and LIFE Brenta 2030 — also shared their experiences of obtaining funding for nature from various private and public sources. The meeting also heard from businesses supporting sustainable farming, such as NaturaSi, an Italian organic supermarket.
The European Investment Bank shared its experience on setting up financial agreements for nature restoration. Representatives from the EU’s Green Assist advisory service also provided details about the support potential investors in sustainable projects can receive.
One of the meeting’s key recommendations was that robust monitoring and verification of innovative funding schemes are crucial for building trust and ensuring transparency. Conservation practitioners also need help to improve their financial literacy to take advantage of these schemes.
Recordings from the meeting are available on the LIFE YouTube channel.
Source – EU Commission – CINEA