Response from the Institut de la Finance Durable to the European Commission’s consultation on nature credits

Following the European Commission’s launch of the “nature credit” roadmap in July 2025, the Institut de la Finance Durable (IFD) has published its first position paper on this innovative financial mechanism, which has great potential for redirecting financial flows towards nature. Against the backdrop of an estimated annual funding shortfall for biodiversity of between $600 and $800 billion, this position paper, the result of work by the IFD’s “Biodiversity and Natural Capital” group, identifies three key conditions for structuring an integrated market that is attractive to private players:

Rely on solid scientific foundations and robust definitions;

Define market infrastructures and the role of the various players;

Clarify the conditions for the emergence of supply and demand.

For several years now, IFD and its members have been actively contributing to the structuring of this market, notably through their participation in the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits and in the financing committee for the French “Sites Naturels de Compensation de Restauration et de Renaturation” mechanism.
The Institut fully supports the European initiative to establish a framework for the development of this emerging market. In this document, it stresses the importance of making European regulations consistent with nature conservation objectives. Last but not least, it is essential to ensure that nature credits are properly coordinated with existing financial mechanisms, in order to meet the challenges of ecosystem conservation and restoration.

The Paris financial center is at the disposal of the European Commission to work towards the emergence of a robust “credit nature” market and to mobilize private financing for this new scheme in an efficient manner.