EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for “Assessing and Modelling Socio-Economic Impacts of Nature Restoration” (HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-06)

1. Single Market Access

• 450+ million potential users & buyers of decision-support tools (ministries, regions, utilities, land-managers, banks, insurers, corporates).

• Direct route into €290 bn/yr EU public procurement programmes that increasingly require biodiversity and climate criteria (e.g. Green Public Procurement, REGULATION (EU) 2023/2418 on nature restoration).

• EU Taxonomy & CSRD reporting duties create a pan-European demand for audited socio-economic impact metrics—precisely the deliverables of this call.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Facilitates multidisciplinary consortia (economists, ecologists, data scientists, SSH) from ≥3 Member/Associated States, complying with Horizon eligibility while maximising intellectual diversity.

• Data interoperability: harmonised access to Copernicus, INSPIRE, Eurostat, JRC KB on Biodiversity; easier when partners span multiple biogeographical regions (Atlantic, Boreal, Med, Alpine, etc.).

• Opens doors to living labs across diverse socio-ecological contexts (Baltic peatlands, Iberian dehesas, Danube wetlands) enabling model transferability.

• Leverages ERA-NETs & European Partnerships (Biodiversa+, Water4All, Agroecology) for experimental sites, joint advisory boards and shared dissemination channels.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• European Green Deal & 2030 Biodiversity Strategy: project delivers quantitative evidence needed for mid-term stock-take in 2024-2030.

• Nature Restoration Regulation: models will underpin Member States’ national restoration plans and progress reporting, ensuring compliance and avoiding infringement penalties.

• European Climate Law: integrates adaptation/mitigation co-benefits into socio-economic scenarios, supporting Fit-for-55 package.

• Farm to Fork & CAP Eco-schemes: tools help certify biodiversity benefits of agri-environment measures, enabling farmers to access up to 25 % of CAP Pillar I earmarked for eco-schemes.

• Digital Europe & Data Act: FAIR-by-design datasets can plug into the European Green Deal Data Space and Destination Earth (DestinE).

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• One set of EU environmental accounting standards (SEEA-EA, EU Taxonomy KPIs). Results valid across 27 Member States, reducing duplication of national studies.

• CEN/CENELEC standardisation pathways: opportunity to co-create EU standards for valuation of ecosystem services, later referenced in procurement and financing rules.

• Accelerates equivalence of green bonds/loans across borders by providing recognised valuation coefficients.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Collaboration with Europe’s top research infrastructures (e.g. eLTER, LifeWatch ERIC, Copernicus DIAS) provides high-resolution ecological and socio-economic datasets.

• Links to EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Food & EIT Digital for business model acceleration and AI integration.

• High-Performance Computing via EuroHPC Joint Undertaking enables continent-scale scenario modelling at metre-scale resolution.

6. Funding Synergies & Blended Finance

• Stacking with other EU instruments:

- LIFE programme (restoration pilot costs, replication).

- ERDF & Interreg Europe (regional roll-out, capacity building).

- CAP Rural Development & Eco-schemes (on-farm pilots).

- InvestEU & European Investment Bank (scale-up finance for nature-based solutions, using project KPIs to de-risk loans).

• Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” & “Restore our Ocean and Waters” provide demonstration catchments and extra dissemination budget.

• National Recovery & Resilience Plans (RRF) earmark >€50 bn for green investments—project KPIs facilitate draw-down.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• EU-wide comparability enables benchmarking and policymaker dashboards for all 27 Member States + EEA, accelerating adoption.

• Models transferable to candidate & neighbourhood countries, enhancing EU soft power and opening new markets for consortium spin-offs.

• Provides evidence base for future global standards (IPBES, GBF, ISO), positioning EU as thought leader.

8. Concrete Opportunity Map

| Opportunity | EU Dimension | How to Capitalise |

|-------------|--------------|-------------------|

| Pan-EU restoration investment marketplace | Single Market | Develop SaaS platform aligning with EU Taxonomy & CSRD; integrate with EIB’s Natural Capital Financing Facility. |

| Regional Just Transition actions | Cohesion Policy | Pilot socio-economic models in coal regions under Just Transition Fund; quantify green job creation. |

| Financial sector uptake | Capital Markets Union | Co-create biodiversity-linked loan KPI handbook with European Banking Authority & ECB NGFS. |

| Public health co-benefits | EU Health Union | Interface with ECDC data to value avoided morbidity costs from cleaner ecosystems. |

| Digital twins for policy | Digital Europe | Feed outputs into DestinE digital twin of Earth for climate-biodiversity-economy interactions. |

9. Competitive Edge Over National-Level Projects

• Critical mass of data: pooling datasets from all biomes increases model robustness & transferability.

• Policy influence: EU-level results feed directly into Commission impact assessments and delegated acts—much higher visibility than national studies.

• Economies of scale: shared tooling & cloud infrastructure lower per-country costs vs. 27 separate efforts.

10. Actionable Next Steps for Applicants

1. Build a balanced consortium: at least 3 MS/AC, include SSH, gender experts, SMEs delivering digital tools, and public authorities as pilots.

2. Secure letters of intent from: EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, BioAgora, Biodiversa+ projects, and regional managing authorities (ERDF, CAP).

3. Design a FAIR data management plan aligned with EOSC & Green Deal Data Space; budget for data stewards.

4. Map complementary funding to each WP (e.g. LIFE for demo sites, Interreg for replication, InvestEU for commercialisation).

5. Embed standardisation work package to liaise with CEN/CLC TC 465 ‘Sustainable Finance’.

6. Integrate Copernicus & Galileo/EGNOS data to satisfy HEU eligibility clauses and enhance spatial accuracy.

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Bottom Line: Operating at EU scale multiplies scientific credibility, policy relevance, market size and funding leverage—turning a research project into a continent-wide enabler of the green transition.