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The economics of nature-based solutions
Invest4Nature is an EU-funded Research and Innovation project that contributes to the creation of a market for nature-based solutions (NbS). Over the course of 4 years, 15 European partners from research, industry and the public sector join forces to develop a better understanding of the economic and financial performance of nature-based solutions and to promote investments in the measures. This serves as a basis for the development of a market to enable a broad deployment of nature-based solutions.
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General challenge
- Climate change is threatening earth’s biodiversity and human wellbeing. NbS are a powerful measure to solve that
- Quantified economic and social benefits of NbS are still poorly understood
- Missing financial data makes for poor financial models and lack of investment in NbS
Challenges for different stakeholders
- These general challenges pose specific challenges to certain stakeholders, such as:
- Policy makers do not have an understanding of the role of NbS for future climate-resilient and circular economic structures yet
- NbS providers do not develop their business models along a standardized framework
- Public and private investors have no financial data on costs and benefits of NbS yet
Objectives and expected outcomes
Invest4Nature pursues a set of objectives that all contribute to the creation of flourishing markets for NbS. Some of the main outcomes include:
- Creation of thorough understanding of the economic costs and benefits of NbS to enable the creation of business models and suitable market conditions for NbS
- Development of a decision support tool to enable private & public stakeholders make informed decisions on NbS investments with highest social impacts and highest expected net present value
- Creation of a multi-stakeholder online marketplace as a space for engagement and information sharing
- Establishment of a European NbS investment community
The project in a nutshell
- Duration: July 2022 – June 2026
- 15 partners from 11 countries
- 5 Living Labs with NbS cases in Austria, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Portugal
- Funded by the Horizon Europe programme of the European Union
Project structure
Invest4Nature has four project phases:
- Study and conceptual phase: The consortium compares existing works and collects the necessary data for the development of advanced framework and tools. This phase aims to develop a framework and methodologies for valuing NbS benefits and costs as a basis for stocktaking of evidence and knowledge of NbS economics and financing.
- Understand stakeholder need and co-create solutions: Invest4Nature’s Living Labs are set up in Austria, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Portugal
- Empower stakeholders and assists the creation of NbS markets: Development of datasets, toolboxes, business and financing models, policy frameworks, coaching and training programmes.
- Reach out: The consortium catalyzes the impact of the solutions, business and finance models developed by reaching policy makers, decision makers, NbS developers, and other interested organizations in the results of Invest4Nature.
Nature-based solutions
The world is experiencing a severe climate and biodiversity crisis. Nature-based solutions (NbS) can be a powerful tool to tackle this challenge by reducing the risks of climate change driven events such as flooding or heat waves. The benefits of nature based solutions are not limited to climate protection, but can also increase well-being for citizens and create opportunities for employment, offering multiple benefits environmental, social, and economic value creation.
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