A number of Horizon Europe projects, such as Invest4Nature and GoNaturePositive!, are dedicated to exploring, guiding, and advocating for the role that the business and finance sectors can play in protecting nature and fostering biodiversity. Concurrently, these projects strive to highlight how investing in nature-based solutions (NbS) can help these same actors mitigate risk, boost resilience, foster a nature-positive economy, and yield long term savings.
These topics formed the core themes of the recent European Climate Risk Assessment for Business 2025 (EUCRA) meeting, which convened leading experts, policymakers, and business leaders at Sweco’s Urban Insight Lab in Brussels. Organised by IEEP with support from the Environmental Defense Fund, the event included input from Leena Ylä-Mononen of the European Environment Agency, who stressed EUCRA’s importance for enhancing private-sector competitiveness. Luc Bas, Director of Belgium’s CERAC, then explained how EUCRA’s data-driven insights fuel effective climate risk analysis and adaptation strategies, followed by Julie Berckmans highlighting key ecosystem findings.
A dynamic panel debate, moderated by Evelyn Underwood (IEEP), featured:
- Elina Vaara (EIB) on financing challenges,
- Daniela Rizzi (ICLEI & NetworkNature Coordinator) on leveraging cities to drive demand for nature-based enterprises,
- Milo Fiasconaro (Aqua Publica Europea), and
- Katrien Moubax (Aquafin) on integrating NbS into water management and flood risk adaptation.
Daniela Rizzi explained how NetworkNature, by uniting nearly 90 EU-funded projects and consolidating scattered knowledge, resources, and case studies, is working to upscale NbS. She emphasised that cities can accelerate a nature-positive economy by embedding NbS into urban planning, expanding green infrastructure projects, and leveraging strategic public procurement to fund initiatives that harness natural processes for biodiversity, climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. This collaborative approach is key to transforming urban landscapes and driving sustainable, nature-based solutions at a large scale.
Other key takeaways from the speakers underscored that while financing NbS remains a challenge, they offer significant opportunities to boost resilience and competitiveness. They also highlighted the need for robust metrics and comprehensive impact assessment frameworks to track progress and ensure that NbS initiatives deliver tangible benefits. Building a climate-resilient Europe requires robust collaboration, clear policies, and scalable investment in nature-based solutions.
Join the NetworkNature movement to harness the transformative potential of NbS to drive innovation, foster a nature-positive economy, and build a climate-resilient Europe.