The first project financed by the Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF), a financing partnership between the Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB), was launched in Brussels on Tuesday 11 April.
The €6 million loan agreement with Rewilding Europe Capital will provide support for over 30 nature-focused businesses across Europe to restore 38 sites that form part of the pan-European network of protected natural sites, Natural 2000.
The loan agreement was signed by Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Employment, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen and Head of Climate Financier at the EIB Christopher Knowles. Frans Shepers of Rewilding Europe and European Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella took part in the signing ceremony.
The signing of this agreement opens a new chapter in the way EU thinks about how to create added value in Europe, in the way green capital is used to create added value, prosperity, wellbeing and sustainable development, said Katainen, repeating the EU’s commitment towards the 2030 universal sustainable development goals and the Paris climate agreement.
The Paris agreement highlighted the “paramount role of finance, in particular private finance, in achieving the energy and ecological transition”, Katainen pointed out, adding: “Finance is a central element to meeting EU climate and environmental objectives while enabling sustainable growth when transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient, resource-efficient and circular economy”.
Stressing the importance integrating natural capital into investment strategies and the need to ensure that the capital approach is not detrimental to Europe’s natural heritage, Katainen underlined that “blended finance and public-private partnerships can provide the necessary safeguards to protect our common good while providing the necessary flows at the appropriate scale and speed”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)