Author/Contact:
Yuanzao Zhu
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Resource description:
This deliverable provides an in-depth analysis of the European Union’s Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy and its potential implications for spatial planning and biodiversity conservation. It explores how EU-level financial policies, particularly those promoting transparency, accountability, and alignment with environmental objectives, can influence spatial planning decisions and processes.
The report discusses how sustainable finance considerations can be meaningfully integrated into various stages of spatial planning, including visioning, plan formalization, implementation, and monitoring. Through these entry points, the Strategy has the potential to influence land use, infrastructure development, and ecosystem protection, ultimately contributing to a more biodiversity-friendly planning landscape.A key focus of the analysis is the role of different actors, including public authorities, financial institutions, private developers, and civil society, and how each can drive, facilitate, or respond to sustainability incentives proposed by the Strategy. Specific examples include the creation of “taxonomy-aligned” spatial zones, the incorporation of sustainability disclosure obligations in planning decisions, and the use of sustainable development indicators for performance evaluation. The deliverable also applies a transformative change framework to identify strategies and actionable recommendations to support governance, inclusion, and innovation in planning practices.
Overall, the document serves as a detailed guide for understanding how financial policy at the EU level can shape and support more biodiversity-friendly and sustainable spatial planning across different governance scales.
DOI reference:
10.5281/zenodo.10789620