[copie] FORBES

Faced with the current dynamics leading to the sixth wave of mass extinction of species, numerous public policies in favour of biodiversity have been put in place at all territorial levels over the last few decades. To make them fully effective, relevant tools and methods are needed to take account of biodiversity issues in the financing of regional development projects and to assess the contribution made by businesses in preserving species and ecosystems.

The FORBES project (Financement des Outils Régionalisés pour le traitement de la Biodiversité par les EntreprisesS) aims to offer these types of tools and methods to support, on a regional scale, the actions of local authorities and companies contributing to regional biodiversity strategies.

This project aligns with the the BISON project, which aimed to build a European roadmap for biodiversity-friendly transport infrastructure. It also aims to support the entry into force in 2024 of the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), which sets new sustainability reporting standards and obligations for companies.
The aim is to design and test an economic model and a system for joint management of biodiversity, using a hybrid (public/private) funding system inspired by water agencies current finance system. To achieve this, the project will be carried out in two phases, over a total period of 5 years and with a budget of €730k: a 3-year research phase (€530k) and a 2-year experimentation phase (€200k).

It will be implemented by a multi-disciplinary team, drawing mainly on concepts and methods from environmental economics, quantitative ecology and ergonomics.
The research phase will begin with a wide-ranging diagnostic to analyse infrastructure financing and corporate sustainability reporting processes, to take stock of European, national and regional ambitions in terms of biodiversity protection, and to identify biodiversity assessment processes that could/should be improved.
The work will then focus on building a model for a regional mechanism that will make it possible both to steer the funding strategy of local authorities in terms of biodiversity and spatial planning, and to provide companies with relevant data to build the biodiversity related part of their sustainability reporting. This mechanism will be based on various ecological indicators, the relevance of which will need to be assessed over time.

The two-year trial phase will then enable the mechanism to be tested under real conditions, and provide feedback for improvement if necessary. It will involve both local authorities (Occitanie region, Nîmes Métropole) and infrastructure operators (SNCF Réseau). The aim is to produce a stabilised, robust and operational system.
Scheduled to start in 2025, the FORBES project involves the TerrOïko and ECO-MED consultancies, the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SOURCE), the Supplément d'âme and Environmental Resources Management consultancies, the Occitanie region, Nîmes Métropole and SNCF Réseau.