- Client: DG Environment (ENV) (European Commission)
- Implementation period: January, 2020 - January, 2022 (Completed)
- Geographic coverage: European Union
- Theme: Environment
- Topic: Biodiversity and Natural Capital, Nature and Biodiversity, EU Sustainable Finance
- Experts: Erik Gerritsen, Graeme Nicholls, Kym Whiteoak, Maha Cziesielski, Linde Zuidema, Lisa Korteweg, Oana Forestier, Rob Williams
EU Nature Restoration Law
In 2024, it is expected that one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in recent times will be adopted by the EU- the Nature Restoration Law (NRL). The NRL is the first-ever time-bound legislation that explicitly targets the restoration of Europe’s nature, to repair the 80% of European habitats that are in poor condition, and to bring back nature to all ecosystems, from forest and agricultural land to marine, freshwater and urban ecosystems.
To assist the European Commission in developing the proposal of the NRL, Trinomics along with partners IEEP, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, conducted an Impact Assessment of 8 ecosystems (forest; inland wetlands; coastal- and other saline wetlands; river-, lake- and alluvial; marine; sparsely-vegetated; agro-ecosystems; and urban) and 2 cross-cutting ecosystems (pollinators and soils). The assessment revealed that the estimated cost of restoring the aforementioned 8 ecosystems is approximately €154 billion by 2050. However, the benefits resulting from restoration far outweigh these costs, amounting to around €1,860 billion. The study emphasized that although achieving the ecological restoration goals would affect various land and sea sectors, these sectors would reap the most substantial long-term benefits from the restoration efforts.
