CDC Biodiversité: 1st activation of EIB's Natural Capital Financing Facility in France

CDC Biodiversité Energie et environnement

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has just granted a €5mn loan to CDC Biodiversité. The opportunity to activate for the first time in France its Natural Capital Financing Facility. This European programme has been allocated €125mn to support new investments in nature protection.

This loan will support CDC Biodiversité in the development of environmental mitigation, a regulatory instrument enabling project owners to avoid a net loss of diversity. The process: avoid, reduce, mitigate (“éviter, réduire, compenser”, or ERC). Project owners must determine, as from the development of a project, which measures will avoid environmental impacts, reduce them or mitigate them. For this purpose, CDC Biodiversité invests, rehabilitates and manages protected sites in France.

About the Natural Capital Financing Facility - By 2021, the €125mn provided under the EIB’s Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF) should generate over €400mn in new investments towards the protection of nature. The Facility provides financial support via the EIB’s loans and equity instruments and should generate additional investments to an amount equivalent to a maximum of 4 times the initial financing.

View the Practical Guide for Europe: Investing in Nature

See examples of projects supported by the Natural Capital Financing Facility