Source: European Investment Bank
To scale up nature-positive investment, we need to do four things. First, build more effective public-private partnerships. Between countries and public development banks, as well as with nature organisations, companies and private-sector financial institutions. This would help de-risk investments, prepare projects, and deliver impact at scale for climate, nature, and inclusive economic development. Second, revive and mainstream regenerative practices and stewardship of biodiversity, particularly in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors. Third, common principles, standards and disclosure mechanisms to track nature-positive finance and its impact, and to disclose more information on the nature-related impact, dependencies and risk exposure of companies and financial institutions. Finally, to take nature into consideration in all policies and investment decisions, to reorientate and decrease the flow of financing to activities harmful to nature.
Multilateral development banks will play a key role in scaling up green investments. Institutions like the European Investment Bank are already stepping up support for the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of nature with the launch of common principles for tracking nature-positive finance. Such information is essential for measuring and incorporating nature into multilateral lenders’ operations, as well as informing other investors about what constitutes a nature-positive investment. Partnerships and joint efforts to put these principles into practice are ongoing.
At the European level, the EIB is working closely with the European Commission to support the implementation of the European Union’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy worldwide. We strive to ensure that all the projects we finance cause “no loss” of biodiversity, and we are factoring biodiversity and ecosystem considerations into all our activities.
Moreover, because one of the biggest challenges in scaling up nature-positive investments lies in structuring projects, we are providing advisory services to help nature-restoration and biodiversity initiatives get off the ground. In Morocco, the EIB advised and lent €100 million ($109 million) to preserve and restore more than 600,000 hectares of forest. In Ivory Coast, we are gearing up to support sustainable cocoa farming in which forests are preserved, rather than cut down. And to support marine conservation, we are working with partner institutions on the very successful Clean Oceans Initiative, which is ahead of schedule in providing €4 billion for projects to limit plastic waste.