EU Nature Restoration Law has come into force
The Regulation (EU) 2024/1991, known as the “Nature Restoration Law” (“NRL”), represents a significant EU initiative aimed at reversing ecosystem degradation. The NRL requires Member States to restore degraded ecosystems and enhance biodiversity and resilience across land and marine areas. Effective from 18 August 2024, the NRL imposes binding targets for ecosystem restoration, presenting both opportunities and challenges. This article analyses the NRL’s potential impacts on the private sector, highlighting significant concerns and legal issues.
Nature Restoration Law
The NRL defines “restoration” as the process of assisting the recovery of degraded, damaged or destroyed ecosystems to restore their natural functions, services and biodiversity. This involves actions that aim to bring ecosystems back to a healthy state. Restoration under the NRL includes reforestation, wetland rehabilitation and the re-establishment of natural habitats, with the goal of reversing the decline in biodiversity and mitigating climate change impacts.
To achieve the EU’s ambitious objectives, the NRL establishes binding restoration targets and obligations for various ecosystems. By 2030, the restoration measures should cover at least 20 % of the EU’s land and sea areas, including terrestrial, coastal and freshwater, forest, agricultural and urban areas. By 2050, the measures should extend to all ecosystems “requiring restoration”.
To reach these targets, the NRL contains more specific requirements, such as:
- the restoration of at least 30 % of ecosystems covered by the NRL from a poor to a good condition by 2030, increasing to 60 % by 2040 and 90 % by 2050. Until 2030, priority should be given to Natura 2000 sites;
- the restoration of agricultural ecosystems with a focus on two of the following indicators: butterfly and farmland bird populations, soil organic carbon or high-diversity landscape features;
- the restoration of the natural connectivity of rivers and natural functions of the related floodplains, obliging Member States to remove artificial barriers to the connectivity of surface waters, such as “obsolete” barriers that are no longer needed for renewable energy production, inland navigation, water supply or flood protection;
- the prevention of net loss in the total national area of urban green space and of urban tree canopy cover in urban ecosystem areas.
Member States must adopt “restoration plans” detailing how they intend to achieve these targets and ensure that the restored areas do not significantly deteriorate. In preparing the national restoration plans, Member States shall involve several stakeholders, such as local and regional authorities, landowners, civil society organisations, farmers, fishers, foresters, investors and the general public, at all stages of development, review and implementation.
When drawing up their national restoration plans, Member States may use the various examples of restoration measures listed in Annex VII of the NRL, such as renaturalising riverbeds by removing artificial bed fixation, halting or reducing the use of chemical pesticides or increasing urban green spaces.
World Green Infrastructure Congress 27 – 29.06.2023 in Berlin
Almost 1,100 participants from 41 countries
11.07.2023
After six years, the World Green Infrastructure Congress finally took place in Germany again and became the world’s largest event on the subject of greening buildings to date! Almost 1,100 people from 41 countries had registered for the congress in Berlin which was organised by the Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG). the accompanying trade exhibition with fair character comprised almost 60 exhibitors. The lectures were also broadcast live online.
BuGG President Dr. Gunter Mann was very satisfied with the course of the event: “It was an incredibly large organisational effort, which could only be managed by a great team performance of the BuGG and was rewarded by a sensationally high number of participants!”
He continues, “We would also like to thank the patrons, the international and national partners, the congress and media partners and the numerous sponsors! Without their participation, a congress of this dimension would not have been possible.”
The three-day World Congress, which addressed planners, implementers, local, state and federal politicians, investors and companies in the sector, was divided into two days of congress and one day of excursions. The importance of the topic of green buildings and the World Green Infrastructure Congress in politics can be seen in the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building and the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Urban Mobility, Consumer Protection and Climate Action.
The conference programme with 95 expert lectures and a total of 107 speakers from 28 countries was impressive and provided a good cross-section of research and development, urban strategies and the state of the art in building greening worldwide.
Special impulses at the beginning
With welcoming addresses by the Parliamentary State Secretary Elisabeth Kaiser (Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building) and Permanent Secretary Britta Behrendt (Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Urban Mobility, Consumer Protection and Climate Action), as well as keynote speeches by German architect Christoph Ingenhoven and the world-renowned French botanist Patrick Blanc, there was a brilliant start to the congress.
Full programme on Congress Day 1 and 2
On 27 and 28 June 2023, in five parallel series of lectures and keynote speeches at the beginning and at the end, numerous presentations were given by a total of 107 speakers from 28 countries on current topics relating to greening buildings (roof, façade and interior greening) and their diverse and promising applications. The main topics included climate adaptation strategies, sustainable building, rainwater management, biodiversity, urban strategies for greening buildings, architectural and practical examples.
A glimpse into the practice. Excursions on Day 3
On the third day (29.06.2023), a total of seven bus excursions with over 300 participants to various greened Berlin properties took place. The excursions were divided into four main topics (green roofs, green facades, green interiors, green buildings). They were organised and accompanied by the Institute of Agricultural and Urban Ecological Projects at the Humboldt University of Berlin (IASP) and led to DB Systel GmbH, Berlin Hyp AG, M&M’s Store Berlin, Schönhauser Allee Arcaden, METRO Berlin-Friedrichshain, Wintergarten Varieté, LP12 Mall of Berlin, TechnoCampus Berlin, EDGE Grand Central Berlin, Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH, Stadtpark Schöneberg Grundstücksverwaltung Flemmig & Reinhard GmbH & Co. KG.
The accompanying exhibition and the supporters
Another highlight of the event was the accompanying exhibition, which gave a good overview of various products, systems and services of the industry and was fully booked with 59 exhibiting companies and associations. This was accompanied by a poster exhibition with 56 poster contributions from 12 countries.
The organiser of the World Green Infrastructure Congress 2023 was the Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG), supported by international partners (World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN), European Federation of Green Roof & Green Wall Associations (EFB), Austrian Green Building Association (VfB) and Swiss Green Building Association (SFG)), national partners (Bundesverband Garten-, Landschafts- und Sportsplatzbau e.V. BGL, Patzer Verlag), as well as 25 congress and 11 media partners.
The World Green Infrastructure Congress has received further support from numerous gold, silver and bronze sponsors:
Gold: ACO, Bauder, GDL Belke/Ejot, Urbanscape Knauf Insulation, Mobilane, Optigrün, Sky Roofers, Triflex, Wagner/Weiss + Appetito, Zinco, Novotegra, Wavin.
Silber: ATUS, Berliner Regenwasseragentur, Bildungscampus Dieter Schwarz Stiftung, BMI-Group, Carl Stahl, Cloud Garden, Flor-design Wand, Kraiburg Relastec, Sempergreen, Verticalgreendesign.
Topics and speakers
With welcoming addresses by the Federal Minister for Building Klara Geywitz and the State Secretary Dr. Silke Karcher (Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Clima- te Protection), as well as keynote speeches by the architect Christoph Ingenhoven from Düsseldorf and the French botanist Patrick Blanc, there was a brilliant start to the congress on 27th June 2023 in Berlin.
▪ Aduse-Poku, Minka (Germany)
Pollution (Nitrogen dioxide & Ozone & CO₂) abatement potential of Climbing Plants
▪ Andreatta, Manuel (Austria)
Biodiversity roof – postal distribution centre Vomp/Tyrol/Austria
▪ Balder, Prof. Dr. habil. Hartmut & Mazaheri, Dr. Simin (Germany)
The Frankfurt Bridges – The Green City of the Future – Planned interdisciplinary
▪ Belke, Dipl. Ing. Clemens (Germany)
System concept for wall-bound greening
▪ Blanc, Patrick (France)
Mur végétal (living walls). Case studies worldwide
▪ Brasfield, David (Norway)
The Plus Furniture Factory (Magnor)
▪ Brenneisen, Dr. Stephan (Switzerland)
Fauna of green roofs, especially for solar green roofs
▪ Bornholdt, Dr. Hanna (Germany)
Green roofs and walls – implementing a strategy. Experiences from Hamburg
▪ Bos, Henrik (Finnland) Zuerst grün denken
Think Green First
▪ Briz, Prof. Dr. Julian (Spain)
Decision making process in greening cities
▪ Bucher, Dr. Annette & Reim, Dr. Michaela (Germany) green4indoor
Energy-efficient indoor climate control with plants
▪ de Jager, Marc (The Netherlands)
Living Green „Building Aeres Hogeschool Almere“
▪ Dezsenyi, Peter (Hungary)
The three-dimensional hanging garden of the Szellkapu Park (Budapest)
▪ Diebel, Kelai (The Netherlands)
The Building that Breathes
▪ Dillon, Matthew (Australia)
An Australasian Perspective: Green Infrastructure and Living Architecture
▪ Dopheide, Dipl.-Ing. Ralf, Knoll, Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Bente & Kräftner, Dipl.-Ing. Joachim (Austria)
greenBIM. Digitisation and green infrastructure
▪ Dostal, Ing. Pavel (Czech Republic)
Damage potential and avoidance of green roof design, installation and maintenance
▪ Dreiseitl, Prof. Herbert (Germany)
Liveable, Resilient, Regenerative – Healthy cities need new values
▪ Dreisiebner, Andreas (Switzerland) Energiegründächer sind marktfähig
The energygreenroof is marktable
▪ Eiselt, Katja (Germany)
Fire protection of building greening in international comparison
▪ Emilsson, Dr. Tobias (Sweden)
Understanding long term development of green roofs in Sweden and Finland
▪ Fassbinder, Prof. Dipl.Ing. Dr.rer.pol. Helga (Austria)
Biotope City – the dense city as nature: the example of Biotope City Wienerberg in Vienna
▪ Galvão, Ana (Portugal)
Green walls for greywater treatment: contributions to the circular economy
▪ Gedge, Dusty (England)
Moving towards carbon negative green roofs – BeNetGain
▪ Geywitz, Klara (Germany)
Greeting
▪ Gohlke, M.Sc. Rebecca (Germany)
Urban Dialogue Building Green. Municipal funding instruments in Germany. Final report DBU funding project
▪ Gößner, M.Eng. Dominik (Germany)
Blue-Green and Smart. Modern Stormwater Management of Urban Quaters
▪ Gräf, Dipl. Ing. Michael (Austria)
Greywater as an alternative irrigation source for building greening
▪ Grüntuch-Ernst, Prof. Almut (Germany)
Hortitecture – more urban vitality!
▪ Hekrle, Marek (Czech Republic)
Unlocking the potential of green roofs using an economic assessment: a study from different green roof projects in Czechia
▪ Hickey, Thomas & Villa-Ignacio, Armando (USA)
Evaluating Leafy Green Production in a Colorado Rooftop Agrivoltaic System
▪ Hoffmann, Karin, Reim, Dr. Michaela & Stingl-Sinn, Dr. Nadja (Germany)
U-green. Building physics assessment of green facades and roofs
▪ Holzapfel-Herziger, Dipl. Ing. Felix (Germany) Öffentlicher
Public roof garden: Bunker St. Pauli
▪ Ibanez, Andres (Colombia)
Six visions of Biodivercities: Planning Towns in a Megadiverse Country. A Review of the National Policy on Green Infrastructure in Colombia
▪ Ingenhoven, Christoph (Germany)
supergreen
▪ Irga, Dr. Peter (Australia)
Green Roof and Photovoltaik comparative research in Sydney
▪ Isaac, Prof. Dr. Marney (Canada)
Transitioning extensive green roofs to crop production for enhanced urban agriculture
▪ Johansson, Helen (Sweden)
Photovoltaics on Green Roofs in Scandinavia
▪ Johr, Mathias (Germany)
Rainwater management on green roofs and barrier-free roof terraces
▪ Jonoubi, Dr. Aslan (Iran)
The role of green tall buildings combined with vertical open space in metropolitans development on example Iran
▪ Joshi, Mitali Yeshwant (Belgium)
Investigating the contribution of green roofs to urban ecological network at a city scale in Liege
▪ Kaiser, Fabian (Germany)
Green roof performance – individual requirements for future liveable cities
▪ Kämmer, Ullrich (Germany)
Monitoring for green roofs. Sensor monitoring and leak testing
▪ Karcher, Dr. Silke (Germany)
Greeting
▪ Kiehl, Prof. Dr. Kathrin (Germany)
How to improve the habitat quality of extensive green roofs with native plants for insects?
▪ Klapwijk, Friso (The Netherlands)
How roofs can contribute to water circularity in cities in different climate zones
▪ Knoll, Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Bente, Dopheide, Dipl.-Ing. Ralf & Kräftner, Dipl.-Ing. Joachim (Austria)
greenBIM. Digitisation and green infrastructure
▪ Köhler, Prof. Dr. Manfred (Germany)
Green roofs – an essential component to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals and the Green Deal Europe in urban environments
▪ Köpf, Miriam (Germany)
Plants at work
▪ Korjenic, Prof. Dr. Azra (Austria)
Moregreenschools
▪ Kovač, Gregor & Zupanc, Neva (Slovenia)
Promising alternative solutions for water management
▪ Kräftner, Dipl.-Ing. Joachim, Dopheide, Dipl.-Ing. Ralf & Knoll, Dr. Dipl.-Ing. Bente (Austria)
greenBIM. Digitisation and green infrastructure
▪ Kumar, Hema (India)
New Challenges in green walls and Green Roofs and Looking beyond in India
▪ Küsters, Peter (Germany)
Simulations of the effects of urban greening, especially of building greening, using the example of Duisburg
▪ Lauber, M. Sc. Timon (Germany)
Sustainable cities through clever rainwater management
▪ Leonhards, Hans-Christian (Germany)
Management of large-scale green building sites using the example of KöBogen II (Dusseldorf) and Calwer Passage (Stuttgart)
▪ Lin, Dr. Yi-Jiung Eugenia (Taiwan)
The Impressive Green Roof Projects of Taiwan
▪ Mack, Dr. Leoni (Germany)
Species-rich green building envelopes – a project on bee-friendly food sources and habitats wit hin green walls
▪ Magali, Mulot (France)
French legislation in favour of the green roofs: history, content, advances and consequences
▪ Malmos, Per (Denmark)
Copenhill. The ski slope on the roof – a very extraordinary project
▪ Mann, Dr. Gunter (Germany)
Welcome and opening of the World Congress
▪ Mazaheri, Dr. Simin & Balder, Prof. Dr. habil. Hartmut (Germany)
The Frankfurt Bridges – The Green City of the Future – Planned interdisciplinary
▪ McCullough, Michael (USA)
Making green walls more accessible to primary schools: strategies at curricula, design, and economics
▪ Mehne, Dipl.-Ing. Johannes & Sütel, Bernd (Germany)
Photovoltaic systems for green roofs. Biotope, water reservoir, air conditioning
▪ Niels, Wibke (Germany)
Increasing building energy efficiency using facade greening
▪ Niewöhner, Marc (Germany)
Safe sealing of green and retention roofs creates permanent urban habitats and active climate protection
▪ Palha, Dr. Paulo (Porto Portugal)
Green roofs as part of the renovation of buildings. Bringing nature back to the old town – Porto case study
▪ Panferov, Prof. Dr. Oleg (Germany)
ISemi-intensive green roofs – an innovative climate adaptation and environmental protection instrument
▪ Peck, Steven W. (Canada)
The Living Architecture Performance Tool – Measuring the Performance of Green Roofs and Walls
▪ Petito, Luigi (Slovenia)
EU-Chapter. Results of political activities in Brussels
▪ Petreje, Marek (Czech Republic)
Circular Green Roofs: Utilizing Recycled Materials and Treated Greywater
▪ Polacow Herzog, Prof. Cecilia (Brazil)
Nature-based solutions in Brazil
▪ Prasannamurti, Desai (India)
Airport-terminal in a garden
▪ Raveshia, Chintan (Singapore)
Why is Singapore so successful in urban greening?
▪ Reim, Dr. Michaela & Bucher, Dr. Annette (Germany)
green4indoor – Energy-efficient indoor climate control with plants
▪ Reim, Dr. Michaela, Hoffmann, Karin & Stingl-Sinn, Dr. Nadja (Germany)
U-green. Building physics assessment of green facades and roofs
▪ Richter, Dr. Michael (Germany)
Long-term performance of retention roof greening. Results of an in-situ monitoring in Hamburg
▪ Rousset-Rouvière, Sophie (France)
A tool to assess the ecosystemic performance of green roof projects
▪ Russo, Paolo (Italy)
Green Obsession
▪ Stingl-Sinn, Dr. Nadja, Hoffmann, Karin & Reim, Dr. Michaela (Germany)
U-green. Building physics assessment of green facades and roofs
▪ Streit, Dipl.-Ing. Erich (Austria)
Thermal effect of ivy façade on uninsulated exterior walls
▪ Stock, Dr. Heike (Germany)
How to get more green buildings in the city? – Case study Berlin
▪ Sütel, Bernd & Mehne, Dipl.-Ing. Johannes (Germany)
Photovoltaic systems for green roofs. Biotope, water reservoir, air conditioning
▪ Tkachenko, Prof. Dr. Tetiana (Ukraine)
Green Structures for Energy Efficient, Resource-Saving, Human- and Environment-Friendly Urban Development
▪ Tolderlund, Leila (Denmark)
Urban Landscape Engineer. Hybrid Educations urgently needed for Climate Adaptation and Pre paration for Global Climate Extremes
▪ Tuschen, Dipl.-Ing. Christian & van Strien, Willem (Germany)
Nature-inclusive building: how to measure biodiversity?
▪ van Lier, M.Sc. Kilian (Germany)
Building greening as health promotion measure – Binding air pollution through wall-bound greening
▪ van Strien, Willem & Tuschen, Dipl.-Ing. Christian (Germany)
Nature-inclusive building: how to measure biodiversity?
▪ Velazquez, Linda S. (USA)
2023. Top 10 List of Hot Resilient Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design
▪ Villa-Ignacio, Armando & Hickey, Thomas (USA)
Evaluating Leafy Green Production in a Colorado Rooftop Agrivoltaic System
▪ Williams, Prof. Dr. Nicholas (Australia)
Quantifying the local benefits of green roofs provides the evidence-base for planning policy changes in Melbourne
▪ Weber, Prof. Dr. Stephan (Germany)
Multiannual uptake of CO₂ by two extensive green roofs
▪ Weber-Siwirska, Dr. Marta (Poland)
Implementation of the green solutions in Polish cities – challenges and possibilities
▪ Werner, Dipl.-Ing. Dieter (Austria)
Fire protection of facade greening. State of the research
▪ Wultsch, M.Sc. Thomas (Austria)
Retrofitting sun-exposed glazed buildings with vertical greenery
▪ Zemp, Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard (Switzerland)
Interior greening
▪ Žižak, Tej (Slovenia)
Characterization of the dynamic thermal response of green roofs under actual boundary conditions
▪ Zupanc, Neva & Kovač, Gregor (Slovenia)
Promising alternative solutions for water management
Further information on the speakers and their lectures can be found here: