The European Commissioner for Environment, Jessika Roswall, will give a keynote speech on ‘nature credits’, in early May. Participants in the round table on ‘nature credits’ organised by the Commission on Wednesday 23 April (see EUROPE 13625/10) told our Contexte colleagues that a statement by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, could follow in June.
The European Commission is preparing this new financing instrument inspired by ‘carbon credits’ on the basis of two pilot projects: wetlands in France and private forests in Estonia. EU advisory support is provided through the LIFE supplement ‘Green Assist’, an advisory service to support sustainable investments.
The two projects aim to develop a clear framework for ‘biodiversity credits’ and establish a methodology that can be replicated across the EU. These two projects also represent an opportunity to test the market and compare ‘nature credits’ with ‘carbon credits’, which the Member States have more experience of.
Demand for ‘biodiversity credits’ is growing, argues the European Commission in its working document, but there is a need for “market building”.
See the Commission’s working document: https://aeur.eu/f/gjh (Original version in French by Florent Servia)