France: The EIB partners with CDC Biodiversité to protect biodiversity and promote nature conservation

The EIB has signed a 5 million euro loan with CDC Biodiversité, the subsidiary of the French national promotional bank Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. CDC Biodiversité will use the loan to support the rehabilitation and management of conservation sites around France. 

This EIB loan will enable CDC Biodiversité to support investment in new sites, while keeping its existing sites, some of which have high ecological value, and make the necessary investments to register and market the credits of those sites to comply with regulatory requirements in France. The project is backed by a guarantee from the Natural Capital Financing Facility, under which the EIB and the European Commission are working together to support projects delivering on nature conservation, biodiversity and climate adaptation.

Signing this new loan at the EU high level conference on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Brussels, EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, who is responsible for Climate Action and Environment, said: “With this project, the EIB in close partnership with the European Commission, for the first time uses the Natural Capital Financing Facility to support the emerging business of biodiversity offsets, which are an important tool in promoting both nature conservation and biodiversity protection and economic development. We are confident that this operation will help mobilize investment, including from the private sector, and scale up finance for such biodiversity compensation schemes.”

Original source: EIB
Published on 23 May 2019