EU-Wide Advantages and Opportunities for “Additional activities for the European Biodiversity Partnership: Biodiversa+”

1. Accelerated Access to the EU Single Market for Nature-Positive Solutions

• Direct reach to 450 + million consumers, landowners and public authorities for roll-out of restoration technologies (e.g. seed mixes, remote-sensing services, carbon-sink verification tools).

• Common EU ecolabelling, green procurement and taxonomy rules lower transaction costs and speed up commercialisation of biodiversity-friendly products.

• Opportunity to develop EU-wide voluntary carbon/ biodiversity credit schemes aligned with the Nature Restoration Regulation, creating immediate market pull for project outputs.

2. Catalytic Cross-Border Collaboration

• 40 + national & regional R&I agencies pool resources via the COFUND mechanism, generating annual joint calls > €100 M.

• Transnational consortia can combine alpine, boreal, Atlantic and Mediterranean test sites, yielding robust, generalisable restoration blueprints.

• Shared infrastructures (ICOS, eLTER, LifeWatch, EuroBioImaging) reduce duplication and provide harmonised monitoring baselines.

3. Full Alignment with EU Flagship Policies

• Green Deal: delivers on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, Zero-Pollution Action Plan and Circular Economy objectives.

• EU Nature Restoration Regulation: demonstrator projects for wetlands, peatlands, forests and urban green spaces feed directly into legally binding national restoration plans.

• European Climate Law: ecosystem-based mitigation pathways help close the EU’s GHG sink gap by 2030.

• Digital Europe & Data Strategy: open FAIR data flows to European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and Copernicus DIAS platforms.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Streamlined Compliance

• One set of EU environmental directives (Birds, Habitats, Water Framework, Marine Strategy) provides a predictable compliance framework across 27 Member States.

• Coordinated permitting for cross-border pilot sites (e.g. Danube floodplains, Pyrenees forest corridor) shortens lead times.

• Access & Benefit-Sharing rules for genetic resources aligned with EU ABS Regulation simplify sample exchange.

5. Plug-in to Europe’s Innovation & Data Ecosystem

• Synergies with EU space programmes: Copernicus Sentinel-2 for vegetation indices, Galileo/EGNOS for centimetre-level positioning of restoration actions.

• Direct links to EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity & BioAgora ensure rapid science-policy uptake.

• Participation in Living Labs and Mission Soil & Ocean Lighthouse sites multiplies user feedback loops.

• Horizon Europe clusters (Health, Digital, Climate) provide spill-over opportunities in bio-pharma, AI for species detection, and climate-risk insurance.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• 30 % EU funding rate unlocks > 70 % co-investment from national programmes—typical leverage 3:1.

• Seamless combination with LIFE, Interreg (cross-border demo corridors), CAP eco-schemes and InvestEU’s Natural Capital & Circular Economy Initiative.

• Up to €7 M Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) allows cascading grants to SMEs, NGOs and local authorities, filling the “valley of death” between research and deployment.

7. Pan-European Scale and Impact

• Ability to pilot, validate and upscale restoration models across Europe’s biogeographical regions, generating statistically powerful evidence for IPBES/IPCC assessments.

• Aggregated biodiversity & carbon metrics support EU-wide ESG reporting and taxonomy-aligned private finance flows.

• Enhanced EU global leadership: data and methodologies feed Kunming-Montreal GBF monitoring, strengthening Europe’s diplomatic influence.

8. Unique Strategic Advantages of the COFUND Modality

• Legal continuity with 2021-24 grants avoids disruption, preserves institutional memory and accelerates 2025-27 flagship roll-out.

• Governance model (General Assembly + Thematic Task Forces) is already tested, reducing administrative overhead for new partners.

• Annual joint calls create predictable funding rhythm for research teams and innovators, encouraging long-term career planning.

9. Actionable Opportunities for 2025-27 Work Plan

1. Launch a €60 M “Restoration Carbon Sinks” call leveraging Copernicus biomass products to quantify mitigation benefits.

2. Create a Pan-European Biodiversity Monitoring Cloud integrating eDNA, acoustic data and citizen-science inputs under EOSC.

3. Pilot cross-border Nature Restoration Living Labs along the Green Belt (Baltic–Adriatic) with Interreg co-funding.

4. Develop a Policy Incubator with BioAgora to road-test regulatory sandboxes for ecosystem credit markets.

5. Offer fast-track €300 k FSTP vouchers for SMEs deploying AI-based invasive species detection tools in at least three Member States.

Bottom line: Operating Biodiversa+ at EU scale multiplies financial leverage, accelerates policy impact, and provides unique cross-regional testbeds that no single Member State could assemble—maximising both the scientific excellence and the societal relevance of Europe’s biodiversity R&I investment.