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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.
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.