Currently there is a range of Nature-based solutions (NBS) emerging mostly with strong public funding elements, but a market for NBS has not yet emerged. While mostly small scale NBS are implemented as pilots for urban resilience to climate change the full range of economic and societal benefits for NBS are not systematically understood and mapped and are not sufficiently used to back the business and investment case for NBS. The numerous benefits may include mitigation and adaptation to climate change (including the reduction of urban heat island effect and flood mitigation), reduction of pollution, improved biodiversity and ecosystem services, increased well-being for citizens, including physical and mental health or recreation, social cohesion, and community building. While effort for climate change mitigation and adaptation are increasing, the role of NBS in this context is not well understood. In particular, risk reduction of NBS for the private and public insurance sector has not yet been systematically included in economic valuation of NBS. Holistic understanding of benefits and benefit flows however are important for the society including upscaling and maximising the benefits achievable with NBS and activation financing for NBS.
General aims
General objectives
Invest4Nature has following specific objectives:
1) Better understanding of the economic and financial performance of NBS, including for risk reduction and climate resilience.
2) Actors involved in NBS markets are better equipped to conduct cost-benefit analysis, monetization, and business case development for NBS, and to address their funding needs for greater implementation of NBS, including ecosystem-based climate risk reduction approaches.
3) NBS markets are better understood, further developed, and structured including cross-sectoral value chains.
4) Co-development of toolboxes and increasing the NBS readiness of stakeholders
5) Recommendations for improved integration of NBS in the EU Sustainable Finance Framework and Green Deal policy frameworks
CMCC role
CMCC leads the task on NBS market creation and policy framework.
In particular, the project will release:
a) a review of the policy cases and drivers calling for deployment of NBS across various policy areas, particularly for (transformative) disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation but also for climate change mitigation considering a circular economy One key focus of the task will be the assessment of the NBS integration in the current EU Sustainable Finance policy framework, including the EU Taxonomy of sustainable economic activities, and the level of support it provides to incentivise investment flows in NBS.
b) recommendations on further advancing the NBS integration in sustainable finance policies will be developed.
Leveraging the direct engagement with the sustainable finance policy development of Invest4Nature consortium members, the recommendations will be presented to and integrated in the work of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance and delivered to relevant DGs overseeing the sustainable finance work.
Activities
The overall project aim of Invest4Nature is to gain a better understanding of the economic and financial performance of NBS, considering their role for mitigation as well as climate risk reduction, to promote upscaling and investments in NBS, and to accelerate market uptake. The project has a strong involvement of stakeholders to co-produce solutions, having several NBS Living Labs and a wide NBS community (including project developers, decision makers and funding and financing institutions) at hand, co-producing new evaluation and financing approaches as well as tools, covering NBS in different contexts (e.g., urban, rural, coastal). This is the basis for empowering stakeholders and create and structure a future NBS market.
Expected results
I4N aims at the following outcomes:
-The development and testing of a novel methodological approach to evaluate the benefits of NBS incorporating uncertainties associated with climate risks and impacts
-The establishment of integrated, comprehensive economic evidence on the costs and multiple benefits of NBS including on-the-ground evidence on how NBS compares to grey infrastructure solutions across different NBS types and landscapes (urban, coastal, rural)
-The characterization and consolidation of innovative financing options, business models and economic leverage for NBS markets considering new roles of NBs for climate resilience and risk reduction
Coordinating organization
Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft MBH, Austria
Partners
Steinbeis 2I gmbh, Germany
Norsk Institutt for Vannforskning, Norway
Horizon Nua Innovation,Ireland
Aarhus Universite t, Austria
Climate Alliance – Klima-Buendnis – Alianza del clima e.V., Germany
Oppla Eeig, The Netherlands
Engineering – Ingegneria Informatica SPA, Italy
EMAC Empresa Municipal de Ambientede Cascais EM SA, Portugal
Romanovska Linda, Latvia
Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Italy
Aarhus Kommune, Denmark
Klimabundnis Tirol, Austria
Miasto Poznan, Poland
U-Sentric Bvba, Belgium
Twitter: @Invest4N
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/invest4nature/