Nature-based Solutions benefit people and planet, so why are they missing from EU policies?

Europe is set to face immense socio-ecological challenges in the coming decades, including extreme heat and flooding, with dire impacts for community health and city infrastructure. There is, however, good news: we have a powerful tool at our disposal: Nature-based Solutions (NbS). NbS use the power of healthy ecosystems to mitigate climate change impacts while enhancing biodiversity. With such clear benefits, why are NbS absent in 65% of key EU environmental and sustainability policies?

Laure-Lou Tremblay is a Policy Analyst at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), and Kassia Rudd is a Communications Expert at ICLEI Europe.

Europe is warming faster than any other continent. Our cities suffer from increased heat stress and heightened extreme weather events, with severe implications for human health. At the same time, 85% of EU habitats and 73% of protected species are in poor condition.  Human and environmental health go hand in hand—we cannot improve life in our cities without concurrently protecting the ecosystems on which we rely.

In the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, we have an effective instrument at our disposal: Nature-based Solutions (NbS). NbS work with nature rather than against it to protect biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. These interventions are not meek: constructed and restored wetlands improve water quality by filtering out harmful pollutants; healthy coastal habitats can reduce wave height, reducing damage caused by heavy storms; renatured streams can protect local water supply; and urban forests can remove up to 40.7 tons of Co₂ eq per hectare during the first 20 years of growth. These interventions increase the resilience of our landscapes and cities by mitigating and reducing pollution, expanding job opportunities, and creating greener and healthier human and natural communities. In doing so, NbS improve quality of life and restore biodiversity. What’s more, they have the potential to cost less than traditional grey infrastructure.

The transformative nature of these tools is recognised by some key EU policies.

• The Nature Restoration Law sets binding targets for restoring 20% of the EU's degraded ecosystems by 2030, and 100% by 2050. These targets align well with the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 call to cities over 20,000 residents to implement Urban Nature Plans. Urban Nature Plans, in which NbS play a critical role, are the focus of a Horizon Europe project, UNPplus.
• The Farm to Fork Strategy supports NbS by promoting sustainable farming practices that protect biodiversity and soil health. Practices such as agroforestry, organic farming, and landscape restoration are examples of NbS that align with this strategy’s goals of reducing environmental impacts and enhancing ecosystem services.
• The EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change promotes NbS as a cost-effective way to boost climate resilience. It proposes solutions like restoring coastal ecosystems, rewilding, and urban greening. These interventions help regulate microclimates, mitigate flood risks, and protect against extreme weather, while also contributing to carbon sequestration through ecosystems like forests and wetlands.

These policies are a start, but they are not enough to lessen the impacts of climate change and halt biodiversity loss. Despite the clear benefits of NbS, the results of a new policy report indicate that NbS are only explicitly mentioned in 35% of key EU environmental and sustainability policies. The systematic analysis of 48 ongoing and upcoming EU policies coupled with expert interviews and supporting literature revealed that NbS are underutilised and underfinanced. Furthermore, cooperation and understanding across policy levels is lacking—leading to gaps in implementation.

We need local-level uptake of NbS across the EU. Currently, despite proven impact, NbS are often absent from Member State national implementation plans. The slow adoption, highlighted by the NetworkNature report, reveals deeper issues such as policy incoherence across sectors (i.e. climate, agriculture, and biodiversity) and insufficient funding. An added difficulty is the non-binding nature of many NbS related targets. In the absence of a clear legal framework, earmarked funds, and private sector involvement, cities and local authorities are left without the budget or guidelines necessary to implement green infrastructure effectively. Without a policy sea change, NbS implementation will remain fragmented, small-scale, and incapable of achieving the transformative impact Europe desperately needs.

It is essential that the incoming European Commission takes clear and funded steps to bridge these gaps. The NetworkNature report proposes a series of coordinated steps to unlock the potential of NbS.

• The EU must ensure policies coherently integrate and align NbS across all relevant sectors, setting clear, enforceable targets for NbS adoption, along with budgets that enable action.
• We need to break down silos and foster collaboration among stakeholders. National governments, cities, the private sector, researchers, educators and civil society must come together to design, plan, implement, and monitor NbS projects.
• The business case for NbS must be sharpened. There is ample evidence that NbS can save money in the long run by reducing flood risks, enhancing air quality, and creating cooler urban microclimates. More evidence is needed to quantify these positive outcomes, including the non-monetary benefits typically overlooked by traditional (grey) solutions.
• Policymakers must invest in NbS research and innovation is critical to bring new models and data to the forefront that showcase the cost-efficiency, social benefits, and ecological value of working with nature, not against it.
• Practitioners, policy makers, and local officials must be aware of the added benefits of NbS over traditional grey infrastructure. This requires re-training current and future professionals. EU projects such as NBS EduWORLD, which is creating a teaching resource database, are a start, but we need more funding and resources dedicated to education and capacity building.

Time is not on our side. The EU and its Member States must take immediate steps to mainstream NbS, not just in urban policies but across agriculture, water, climate, finance and beyond. The new Commission for 2024-2029 will need to set an ambitious agenda for NbS deployment.

You can learn more about these different issues and the opportunities for NbS deployment by attending the NetworkNature Annual Event Sept. 25^th in Brussels, and by reading the policy report.