At the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group), the EU climate bank, experts are working for a greener, climate neutral European Union by 2050. In the #AskMeAnything series, EIB Environmental Specialist Kristyna Pelikanova discusses her area of work - scaling investment in biodiversity.

Kristyna looks at how the EIB Group finances nature, greater investment in biodiversity, how to improve the financing of nature-based solutions, how EIB projects protect nature, and how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability.

Difficulties in biodiversity investments

Kristyna's work sees her explore why nature-based solutions can sometimes be hard to scale up, She says: "One of the main difficulties to invest in biodiversity and nature-based solutions projects is the lack of experience and track record on funding such projects in this form of financial investment. Traditionally, biodiversity conservation has been financed through grants or through public or philanthropic funding, and there's a lot to learn in terms of developing strong enough business cases for mainstream investors to come in. 

"And this is coupled with an additional barrier, namely the typically small size of the project. Nature-based solutions are very local and often quite inexpensive to implement. And again, making it rather unattractive for the typical investor. And finally, nature-based solutions require locally adapted solutions. And because of the need for a tailor-made approach and the fact that the expertise is not always there, it's often very difficult to get them off the ground.

"So in conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all approach that makes nature-based solutions rather difficult to scale up and make them attractive for mainstream investors."

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