NEW RESEARCH by the University of Limerick (UL) has been awarded significant funding from the European Commission.
The research, led by UL Associate Professor John Garvey, was awarded almost €5million in funding to research the financing of biodiversity initiatives for businesses.
Professor Garvey will lead the BIOFIN consortium of 14 partners from 10 different EU countries.
BIOFIN (Biodiversity Restoration Using Large-Scale Finance) is a three-year project and will use a systems-based approach to identify the barriers to mobilising mainstream finance to protect and restore biodiversity.
The research will create a unifying framework and technology that creates improved conditions for nature-positive investments and develop new tools and knowledge to help redirect financial resources from destructive economic activity (such as the continued use of fossil fuels) towards nature-positive investment.
Associate Professor John Garvey said: “We will assess and validate our approach across diverse real-life case studies or learning sites. Our findings and approach will initiate a twin green and digital transition that resolves the current transaction complexity and create the conditions to enable large-scale investment that are required if the EU is to achieve its biodiversity goals.”
“Our outcomes will identify remaining gaps in the taxonomy and support policy forming through evidence-based recommendations and we will co-design, develop, and establish pathways for skills and knowledge accelerators for the European financial services industry,” Prof Garvey said.
Welcoming the announcement, Professor Finbarr Murphy, Executive Dean of the Kemmy Business School, said: “BIOFIN is the first successful KBS-led large-scale consortium under this specific European Commission Funding mechanism and a major milestone for the school.”
“This research will act as a catalyst of nature-positive investments and the proposed work will significantly contribute to resolving biodiversity challenges. It is no wonder that the submission received the maximum score for impact from the European Commission,” Prof Murphy concluded.
