Businesses will be among the many stakeholders to benefit from the adoption of a new EU legislation this week that will place greater demands on member states to restore nature, safeguard biodiversity, and promote sustainable land use and soil.
The dependency on a working ecosystem of biodiversity and natural resources has long been highlighted as a crucial aspect to a successful and sustainable economy with researchers and scientists backing the call that without nature there is no business.
It’s been the footing upon which numerous voluntary frameworks such as the science-based targets for nature initiative and the international UN Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework have been developed, alongside legislative measures now in the process of being fine-tuned, including those under the European Green Deal.
The latest of which – the EU Nature Restoration Law – was passed this week in an historic vote marking a significant step forward in the EU’s commitment to combatting climate change and restoring the health of ecosystems across the continent.
Not only has the restoration of such habitat been recognised a crucial to fighting against biodiversity loss but in securing the sustainable future of business, a prosperous planet for young people to inherit, and reducing the risks to food security through land and soil regeneration.
First proposed in June 2022, the EU Nature Restoration Law will tackle head-on the long-term recovery of the over 80% of EU land and sea habitats currently damaged and in poor shape. Through measures to bring at least 20% of those habitats in terrestrial, coastal, freshwater, and marine ecosystems into good condition by 2030, the Commission suggests benefits could be as much as a return of 8 euro back into the economy for every one euro invested in restoration projects.
“This is a real social victory for scientists, for young people, for a lot of companies and businesses, and for the agricultural sector. A huge victory,” said MEP and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, César Luena at a press conference following the vote in Brussels on Tuesday.
“The Nature Restoration Law is an essential piece of the European Green Deal and follows the scientific consensus and recommendations to restore Europe’s ecosystems. Farmers and fishers will benefit from it and it ensures the habitable earth for generations.
“Our position adopted today sends out a clear message. Now we must continue the good work, defend our ground during the negotiations with member states and reach an agreement before the end of this Parliament’s mandate to pass the first regulation on nature restoration in the EU’s history.”
Member states will be required to develop nature restoration plans to reach the targets laid out in the legislation at a national level. Among its specific provisions, the law seeks to restore nature through such measures as the revitalisation of drained peatlands, the expansion of green spaces in urban areas, and the enhancement of biodiversity in agricultural and forestry lands.
Businesses most dependent on natural resources – such as the global paper and publishing sectors – will be among the hardest hit by the continued declined and depletion of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Over consumption, global trade, and industrialisation have all been pinpointed as indirect drivers contributing to Earth’s rapidly depleting biodiversity. It’s estimated that forest areas larger than the EU itself have been lost in the 30 years between 1990 and 2020.
The Research Institutes of Sweden suggests that as much as between 13 to 15% of the global wood trade is attributed to the paper and publishing sectors. The continual depletion of such natural resources through the promotion of monoculture an over consumption will only increase the risks in costs or even total loss of revenue for industries highly dependent on the regeneration of natural capital.
“As an industry highly dependent on natural resources, such as wood, pulp, water, and energy, and one that is relatively resource intensive, the publishing industry will be a target for new standards and regulations that are in the process of being developed and fine-tuned right now,” Karin Morell, a researcher and bioeconomy expert from Research Institutes of Sweden told Products of Change members in a special Paper Workstream meeting.
Included in this sweep of regulatory measures will be the EU regulation on deforestation, the ISO standard on biodiversity, and the now adopted EU Nature Restoration Law.
Surviving a dramatic vote in Brussels on Wednesday, the law was passed with 336 in favour and 300 against. A motion to reject the legislation in its entirety – which would have dealt a heavy blow to the overarching European Green Deal – had failed earlier to garner the support to pass.
“This law is good for even those who voted against it,” said César Luena during his post-vote press conference. “I want to especially thank the scientists and youth because they convinced us that we need to have this law. And we’re going to have it.”
The Nature Restoration Law has been, in recent months, the target of an opposition campaign led by the European People’s Party attacking the law as a ‘threat to traditional livelihoods of European farmers and fishers, a disruption to long-established supply chains, a catalyst for decreased food production and increased prices for consumers, with the potential to wipe out urban areas to make way for green spaces.’
Such claims have been widely contested by the European Commission, dozens of NGOs, the renewable industry, international scientists, and big businesses including H&M, IKEA, Unilever, Nestle, and Danone which all insist nature restoration ‘is perfectly compatible with human activity’ and ‘essential to ensure the viability of European soils.’
