Assess financing needed

As part of the development of an NBS Strategy, it is useful to understand the current nature and extent of financing of NBS in the city (a ‘baseline’), and compare this with the broad costs included in the NBS Strategy.  This will provide a strong understanding of both the current financing approach, and the gap between current financing and future financing under the NBS Strategy.

Firstly, current financing could consider the following for each year over the NBS Strategy period:

• Capital costs (such as land purchases, machinery and other longer term assets)
• Operating and maintenance costs (on-going costs such as labour, asset maintenance)
• Planning and administration costs (if separate from ‘operating and maintenance’ costs above)
• Identification of which entity bears the cost of the expenditure (this could be the ‘parks and gardens’ department of the city, or new developers if required to invest in NBS as part of their development implementation).

For some items, it may be possible to provide accurate data, and for others a higher level estimate may be required if no data exists.

This approach can then be revisited with the different components of the NBS Strategy.  By then comparing the two, it will be clear what the different cost profiles of the two scenarios are (the ‘baseline’ and the additional options for the NBS Strategy).  It may not be possible to identify which entity bears the cost, but this can inform strategies to be pursued within the financing component of the NBS Strategy.

GrowGreen tools:

Nature-Based Solutions – Financing Assessment: Fact Sheet.

External guidance and resources:

Financing conservation and nature-based solutions – A practical guide for Europe
European Investment Bank

The value of green infrastructure
CNT Center for Neighborhood Technology