Nature-based Solutions, Green Infrastructure

This Good Practice Guide focuses on the key elements to support cities in the launch and implementation of successful cool surface programs, leading to better economic, social, and environmental outcomes for cities.

This Good Practice Guide focuses on the key elements to support cities in the launch and implementation of successful cool surface programs, leading to better economic, social, and environmental outcomes for cities.

Planting trees to improve urban air quality, converting abandoned industrial sites into urban parks, greening roofs to reduce buildings’ energy use, and restoring degraded wetlands to prevent floods: Nature-based solutions are increasingly being implemented in urban areas to enhance resilience, support sustainable development, and safeguard biodiversity. This briefing sheet includes good practice examples from Germany and China to showcase the potential of nature-based solutions for urban areas emphasizing their multiple social, environmental and economic benefits.

Many of the products people use on a daily basis are made from fossil raw materials. However, ‘bio-based’ alternatives for these products are available at an increased rate. Bio-based products are an important step in the transition to the bioeconomy. In the bioeconomy renewable biological resources (“biomass”) replace fossil raw materials. This guidance lays out a pathway for public authorities to support this transition by purchasing bio-based materials.

Healthy ecosystems like forests, wetlands, and farms are nature's water infrastructure. They are essential for buffering against floods and the provision of clean, ample water around the world – feeding growth in agriculture, industry, and cities. But unlike traditional pipes and pumps, “natural” infrastructure projects are rarely able to take advantage of bond financing by cities, companies and utilities.