Green infrastructure

What is green infrastructure?

Green infrastructure (GI) is a network of (semi-)natural areas which are protected and enhanced to deliver ecosystem services, while also benefiting biodiversity and society more widely. The European Commission highlights the strategic planning aspect of GI, which brings these areas together to form a physically or functionally connected network across rural and urban areas. Incorporating terrestrial and aquatic (freshwater and marine) features (i.e. blue and green), green infrastructure can be comprised of pure nature or be part of a hybrid approach combining grey and green infrastructure to achieve resilient solutions. Examples of the former include fish migration channels, high-value farmland, parks, forests, floodplains and water retention areas, while hybrid approaches are green bridges, roofs and façades. Such interventions can be deployed at a site scale (e.g. green facades or roofs on a building, green courtyards, sidewalks, streets) to city-wide implementation (parks, urban forests) to a landscape scale (e.g. green hubs and corridors)

The European Commission adopted a Green Infrastructure Strategy in 2013 “to promote the deployment of green infrastructure in the EU in urban and rural areas” in support of biodiversity conservation goals against the background of rapid urbanisation and landscape fragmentation. But how does GI support biodiversity? Green infrastructure maintains and restores ecosystems and ensures the continued delivery of their services and provides the habitats and resources that species need to survive. Spread across and between cities, GI can act as core habitats or stepping stones for species. Core areas consist of larger natural or near-natural spaces joined together into networks by smaller green and blue infrastructure elements called ‘stepping stones’. These smaller elements, such as hedgerows, street trees, renaturalised river banks, green roofs, biodiversity buffer strips in agricultural areas, swales and ponds, can physically or functionally connect core areas (e.g. for migrating species to rest and breed). The Natura 2000 network makes up an important part of this green infrastructure network in Europe, protecting 18% of the EU’s land area and 10% of its marine territory

Green infrastructure has strong overlaps to the concepts of nature-based solutions, natural water retention measures, ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, and ecosystem-based approaches to climate adaptation and mitigation (see #dedicated concept page#). While each concept has emerged out of different sectoral and policy needs and thus differs in its specifics, they shared the aim to utilise nature as a tool for addressing societal challenges in a cost-effective and sustainable way. The design of GI determines the scope of benefits it can provide, such as: climate change mitigation and adaptation, habitat connectivity for biodiversity, water and air quality regulation, improved human health and well-being, or flood protection.

Using nature to achieve multiple goals: An overview of concepts relating to green infrastructure

The concept of green infrastructure can be linked to a number of related concepts

Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)

Nature-based solutions are solutions to societal challenges that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits, and help build resilience. They focused on delivering societal and biodiversity benefits through ecosystem services. NBS bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions. The link between NBS and GI is that both use generally the same principles, concepts, and practical approaches – therefore, NBS can be considered part of green and blue infrastructure networks. More information is available at DG Research and Innovation.

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA)

Ecosystem-based adaptation is defined as "the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.” [CBD 2009]. The EU Adaptation Strategy, the EU’s central strategy for climate adaptation, recognises multiple benefits of ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation. Green infrastructure measures that contribute to climate adaptation can be considered EbA measures. They include a variety of interventions to address adaptation challenges such as high temperatures, changing rainfall and extreme weather patterns, higher risk for certain natural disasters, erosion, and others. Examples of interventions that constitute both EbA and GI measures include green roofs and facades, floodplain restoration, and restoration of natural sedimentation processes to adapt coasts to sea-level rise. More information is available on the CLIMATE-ADAPT website.

Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM)

Natural Water Retention Measures are multi-functional measures that aim to protect water resources and address water-related challenges by restoring or maintaining ecosystems as well as natural features and characteristics of water bodies using natural means and processes. The main goal of NWRM is to enhance the retention capacity of aquifers, soil, and aquatic and water dependent ecosystems with a view to improve their status. NWRM interventions form a part of green and blue infrastructure networks. They improve the quantitative and qualitative status of water bodies, and reduce vulnerability to floods and droughts. The restored ecosystems also contribute both to climate change adaptation and mitigation. More information is available at NWRM.EU.

Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (ecoDRR)

The European Commission promotes ecosystem-based approaches that contribute to the conservation, enhancement and restoration of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystems services in urban, rural, coastal and natural areas for the purpose of disaster risk reduction. These initiatives constitute a positive and cost-efficient way of supporting disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, while often providing significant co-benefits in terms of climate change mitigation or human health, safety and well-being. Green infrastructure that benefits disaster risk reduction can be characterised as ecoDRR. More information is available at DG DEVCO.

Natural Capital and Natural Capital Accounting

Natural Capital is defined by the European Commission as “biodiversity, including ecosystems that provide essential goods and services, from fertile soil and multi-functional forests to productive land and seas, from good quality fresh water and clean air to pollination and climate regulation and protection against natural disasters” [European Commission 2014]. Natural Capital is a way of conceptualising GI that links it to other types of capital, making it easier to integrate into economic debates and argumentation. Natural Capital Accounting is an approach to value the goods and services provided by biodiversity. It is a tool to measure the changes in the stock of natural capital at a variety of scales and to integrate the value of ecosystem services into accounting and reporting systems at Union and national level. It is an alternative indicator that complements and goes beyond GDP to monitor the sustainability of socio-economic progress. It links to the green infrastructure concept by allowing for the benefits of green infrastructure to be expressed in economic terms. More information is available at DG Environment.

A typology of green infrastructure

Defining which components belong to green infrastructure is important for its identification, promotion and uptake. The European Commission proposes the following components, which are illustrated in a landscape setting in the following graphic.

Components of green infrastructure:

Source: EC 2013 (full reference at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-56091-5.pdf, p. 36)

In addition to these elements, green infrastructure located in urban urban contexts plays a critical and increasingly important role in biodiversity conservation efforts. This type of GI is described in more detail below.

Urban green infrastructure

Urban green infrastructure is characterised by different features than its rural counterparts. While the following list of elements is not exhaustive, it aims to provide an overview of some of the most common elements within a specifically urban and peri-urban setting and illustrative examples.

Source: Typology developed by Ecologic Institute based on Cvejić et al. 2015, Xing et al, 2017; Ecologic Institute, 2011, Ndubisi et al., 1995

The EU Green Infrastructure Strategy is Europe’s main policy instrument for green infrastructure, aiming “to promote the deployment of green infrastructure in the EU in urban and rural areas''. Adopted in 2013, the Strategy guides the implementation of GI at the EU, regional, national and local levels and promotes investments in and advances in knowledge surrounding green infrastructure. The Strategy emerged in fulfillment of Target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, which set priorities to restore and promote the use of green infrastructure and committed the Commission to developing such a GI-focused Strategy. The aim is to restore the health of ecosystems, ensure that natural areas remain connected, and allow species to thrive across their entire natural habitat to ensure the further delivery of a range of ecosystem services and benefits for society, the environment and biodiversity, and the economy.

The European Commission defines Green Infrastructure (GI) as: a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. It incorporates green spaces (or blue if aquatic ecosystems are concerned) and other physical features in terrestrial (including coastal) and marine areas. On land, GI is present in rural and urban settings.

A main feature of the Green Infrastructure Strategy is its aim to mainstream green infrastructure into other relevant policies areas, such as Common Agriculture Policy, Water Framework Directive, Floods Directive, Adaptation Strategy, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services (MAES) initiative, and urban planning policies. An overview of This is often done by utilising similar concepts able to deliver sector-specific objectives e.g. ecosystem-based adaptation into climate change policies; nature-based solutions into research and innovation policies; natural water retention measures into water policies; and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation into nature policies. An overview of other key policies with regard to green infrastructure development is outlined below.

The Natura 2000 network is the backbone of Europe’s green infrastructure. However, although the network already encompasses a large number of protected areas, sufficient spatial and functional connectivity between these areas and the wider European landscape was found to often be lacking. The GI Strategy was thus envisioned to play an important role in protecting these existing biodiversity-rich ecosystems and restoring the conservation status of degraded ecosystems while increasing the level of connectivity both within but outside of the network to support species movement and population viability. In doing so, green infrastructure safeguards crucial ecosystems and their services and supports the successful implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives.

Green infrastructure’s contribution to multiple sectors

The EU’s Green Infrastructure Strategy recognizes that the potential of green infrastructure to “make a significant contribution to the effective implementation of all policies” by delivering a range of benefits to different sectors in parallel. For each sector listed below, the link to green infrastructure, examples, benefits and links to further information are provided.

Biodiversity

Green infrastructure plays an important role in the protection of habitats and species, not least in urban areas; nature-rich areas function as core and hubs for biodiversity throughout Europe, including ecological networks and corridors as well as stepping stones within dense urban areas or between physically disconnected green areas

Climate change adaptation

Adaptation measures aim to reduce the impacts or damages associated with climate change to the environment and society, increase resilience to impacts, and take advantage of new opportunities presented by changing climates. GI can contribute through e.g.:

· restoring natural flood defenses

· using tree species and forestry practices that are less vulnerable to storms and fires

· implementing natural water retention measures

· setting aside land corridors to help species migrate as habitat and food availability change

Selected benefits:

· using scarce water resources more efficiently

· flood protection

· reducing heat islands in urban areas

Energy

Energy transmission infrastructure contributes to habitat fragmentation, and the energy sector is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions. GI can reduce the negative impacts of the energy sector via, e.g.:

· projects that reduce an area’s energy demand

· urban green spaces

· street trees

· green roofs and facades

Selected benefits:

· Reducing energy consumption

· Provisioning of bioenergy resources

· Sequestration and storage of carbon

· Regulating indoor and outdoor climates

· As buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in the EU, green infrastructure could have a large impact.

Health and wellbeing

GI can make significant contributions to human mental and physical health by improving the physical environment and increasing the availability of amenities that facilitate healthy lifestyles. Examples of GI which can lead to such benefits include:

· Urban green spaces for recreation

· Street trees for air quality improvement and shade

· Active and eco-tourism infrastructure in protected areas

Selected benefits:

· Regulating air and water quality

· Abating noise

· Regulating temperature and climate

· Provisioning of space for physical activity, recreation, and relaxation

· In some cases Green Infrastructure is associated with improved social cohesion and social welfare

Water

Green Infrastructure is often a cost effective and efficient way of ensuring safe and reliable water resources. This includes contributions to flood protection as part of ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (ecoDRR) (see “related concepts” page) and often involves the following measures:

· Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM), i.e. multi-functional measures that use natural processes to safeguard water resources

· Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)

· Renaturing flood plains (“giving room to the river” approaches)

Selected benefits:

· Regulation of water flows

· Water purification and quality regulation

· Provision of habitats for biodiversity

· Water retention

· Flood protection

Links to further information: Factsheet “Green Infrastructure and Water”

Nature-based solutions for water: UN World Water Development Report 2018 (UNDP 2018) - http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/environment-energy/water_governance/nature-based-solutions-for-water.html

Collection of case studies and resources on Green Infrastructure in Water (CEEweb for Biodiversity):

Links to further information: Factsheet “Green Infrastructure and Health”

Collection of case studies and resources on Green Infrastructure in Health (CEEweb for Biodiversity)

Agriculture and rural abandonment

Many areas that experience rural abandonment feature small-scale agriculture, which contains landscape elements that are important for biodiversity and ecosystem services and can become part of GI. GI is also the source of many services that support agricultural production (see benefits below). Examples of GI in this sector include:

· Agroforestry systems

· Hedgerows, buffer strips, trees, rock walls, and other small landscape elements

· Retention ponds and swales

Selected benefits: GI can provide important benefits for agriculture, and for areas affected by rural abandonment:

· Pollination

· water provision for plant and animal farming

· regulation of soil quality

· erosion prevention

· disaster and fire risk reduction

Links to further information: Factsheet “Green Infrastructure and Rural Abandonment”

Collection of case studies and resources on Green Infrastructure in Agriculture (CEEweb for Biodiversity)

Fisheries

Functioning marine, coastal, and freshwater ecosystems are essential for a healthy and competitive fishing sector. Coastal, marine, and freshwater ecosystems can utilise green and blue infrastructure to help ensure that fishery resources remain resilient and productive into the future, e.g.:

· Marine Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) – i.e. ensuring that the governance of marine and coastal areas happens based on ecosystem boundaries and not only on administrative boundaries

· Fish ladders (allow migratory fish to pass waterway barriers like dams and locks)

Selected benefits:

· Increased resilience of fish catches

· Employment and income benefits to fisheries, and collateral benefits to marine and freshwater ecotourism in healthy ecosystems (e.g. diving, sport/leisure fishing)

· Improved bathing and drinking water quality from functioning marine and freshwater ecosystems

Links to further information:

European Commission information on Integrated Coastal Zone Management

European Commission information on Maritime Spatial Planning:

Forestry

Forests are a form of green infrastructure which provide many ecosystem services (see e.g. benefits section below). GI can improve soil and water cycles on which forestry depends for wood and forest product production. Examples of GI within this sector include:

· Forestry carbon credit schemes

· Urban forests

· Mixed forestry systems

· Restored forests

Selected benefits:

· Habitat provision for biodiversity

· Reduced vulnerability to pests in forestry

· Raw material provision

· Carbon storage

· Climate and water cycle regulation

Links to further information: State of the Environment Report 2015 – forests briefing (EEA 2015)

Finance

Green infrastructure can improve the resilience and functioning of ecosystems and help secure reliable flows of natural resources, reducing business and investment risks. Additionally sustainably produced products enjoy increasing market demand. This is applicable to a diversity of areas, such as clothing production, transportation infrastructure, food and forestry products, trade, and insurance and risk management. Links to GI can include, e.g.:

· Payments for ecosystem services to maintain green infrastructure

· Production systems for sustainably produced commodities

Selected benefits:

· Reduced investment risk, higher investment resilience

· High cost-benefit ratio of investments

· Enhance brand reputation and corporate responsibility

Links to further information: See the factsheet on GI and finance: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ecosystems/pdf/Green%20Infrastructure/GI_finance.pdf

Tourism and leisure

Green infrastructure can creates spaces for healthy and sustainable tourism and leisure practices. In (peri-)urban and rural areas, GI can create new employment and income opportunities in active and ecotourism. Relevant examples within the tourism sector include:

· Wilderness areas or managed landscapes with cycling and hiking paths

· Information (e.g. signage) on local biodiversity, conservation measures, and green infrastructure measures

· Urban tourism for sustainable green infrastructure architecture

Selected benefits:

· Reduced carbon, water, and waste impact of the tourism sector

· Increased tourism and service/leisure industry income and employment

· Opportunities for relaxation, recreation, and exercise, increasing physical and mental wellbeing

· Increased aesthetic appeal of landscapes

· Habitat provision for biodiversity

· Increase acceptance for biodiversity protection by increasing awareness of benefits and improving the distribution of benefits among the population

· Protecting cultural heritage

· Creation of job opportunities

Links to further information: Tourism in a Green Economy (UNEP and UNWTO 2012)

Transport

Green infrastructure can help reduce the carbon and environmental footprints of transport and mitigate the effects of habitat fragmentation caused by transport infrastructure through, e.g.:

· Green bridges and eco-tunnels over/under roads and railways

· Vegetated rail beds

· Permeable and green surfaces in parking and bicycle parking spaces

· Green noise barriers

Selected benefits:

· Reduced carbon impact of transport infrastructure

· Increased habitat connectivity

· Sustainable (urban) drainage, flood protection and water cycle regulation

· Mitigating carbon emissions produced by transport and transport infrastructure

· Reduce runoff and noise pollution

Links to further information: See the factsheet on GI and transport: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ecosystems/pdf/Green%20Infrastructure/GI_transport.pdf

Urban development and cities

Green and blue features within and surrounding cities can be designed to be multifunctional network to deliver a range of benefits to society and the environment. These spaces can together promote, maintain and enhance quality of life in resource-efficient, compact and climate-resilient cities. GI elements within this context can include:

· Green facades and roofs

· Cycling and walking infrastructure

· Urban gardens

· Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)

· Restoration of brownfields or remediation of polluted sites

· Parks, rivers, lakes and wilderness areas

Selected benefits:

· Improvements to sustainability of mobility and transport

· Social cohesion and sustainable city development

· Provisioning of habitats for biodiversity conservation and human recreation

· Reduced energy usage due to improved temperature regulation on buildings

· Reduced urban carbon and environmental footprints

· Pollution and brownfield site remediation

· Improved social, mental, and physical wellbeing of residents

· Improved drainage and reduced flooding

Links to further information: Factsheet “Green Infrastructure and Climate Adaptation”

‘Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe 2016’ (EEA 2016)

Costs and benefits of green infrastructure: Making the business case

Information on the costs and benefits as well as the long-term effectiveness and efficiency of green infrastructure are crucial when making decisions about whether or not to implement a green, hybrid or grey solution or as a means to promote green infrastructure’s ‘value for money’ within policies and to the general public.

Benefits of green infrastructure

The benefits generated through GI extend across multiple sectors and can have positive impacts for society, the environment (including for biodiversity) and the economy. These commonly accrue over an extended period of time and sometimes only emerge after a given number of years (e.g. benefits for biodiversity). Examples include:

· Economic benefits: outputs of food and natural resources, indirect and direct increases in employment, saved costs from increased energy or water efficiency, reduced costs from environmental damage, increased property values, and reduced public health costs...

· Environmental benefits: provisioning of habitat for biodiversity, air and water quality regulation, climate mitigation…

· Societal benefits: increased recreation opportunities, physical and mental health benefits, improved social cohesion, climate adaptation...

Many of these benefits are classified as ecosystem services, and are outlined in the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). The specific types and value of benefits generated by a given GI project depends on the design, implementation and local context of the project.

Costs associated with green infrastructure

Unlike the benefits of GI, associated costs are much more easily measurable. There are two main types of direct costs associated with GI projects, with the most significant usually being the one-off (i.e. incurred only once) costs for identifying, mapping, planning, creating, and restoring green infrastructure. The other major associated cost category is for ongoing maintenance and monitoring of the impact of GI projects, which can extend across the lifetime of the project.

Measuring the costs and benefits of GI

There is a large evidence base qualitatively describing the benefits of GI, and a smaller but robust evidence base quantifying the associated economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits. Costs are usually more straightforward to assess than benefits, as benefits are multifaceted, need to be assessed over long timeframes, and are often indirect and influenced by complex ecosystem services. There is no single accepted methodological approach for quantifying benefits. Instead there exists a variety of tools and approaches that depend on local data availability, types of projects, and types of benefits targeted. Methods to assess the benefits of GI often focus on valuing the generated ecosystem services. In cases in which the costs and benefits of green infrastructure projects have been quantified, benefits tend to significantly exceed the involved costs (see examples below).

Key documents

Management effectiveness in the EU’s Natura 2000 network of protected areas:

Briefing: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/natura-2000/management-effectiveness-in-the-eu

Report: https://cmshare.eea.europa.eu/s/fPAH9bHrrkY6pc9#pdfviewer

Building a coherent Trans-EuropeanNature Network:

Briefing: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/building-a-coherent-trans-european

Report: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/green-infrastructure/building-a-coherent-trans-european/contributions-to-building-a-coherent

Tools to support green infrastructure planning and ecosystem restoration:

Briefing: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/tools-to-support-green-infrastructure

Strategic Green Infrastructure and Ecosystem Restoration (The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the EEA and the Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission 2019).
The report looks at natural capital from the angle of building networks of natural and semi-natural areas that can help biodiversity to recover and deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. These include water purification, improving air quality, providing space for recreation and supporting climate mitigation and adaptation.

Green Infrastructure and Flood Management (EEA report 2017)

Promoting cost-efficient flood risk reduction via green infrastructure solutions.

Spatial analysis of green infrastructure in Europe (EEA report 2014)

The objective of this report is to propose a feasible and replicable methodology for use by different entities and at varying scales, when identifying GI elements.

Exploring nature-based solutions — The role of green infrastructure in mitigating the impacts of weather- and climate change-related natural hazards (EEA report 2015)

This report focuses on extreme events and natural hazards at European scale that will be very likely amplified by ongoing climate change, i.e. landslides, avalanches, floods and storm surges. In addition, it also touches upon the GI and ecosystem services contributing to global climate regulation.

Building a Green Infrastructure for Europe

European Commission’s brochure explaining the concept of GI from many aspects (i.e. its benefits, sectoral integration, financing, links to existing policies)

LIFE building up Europe’s green infrastructure

The good practices and innovative solutions introduced by LIFE projects – as highlighted in this brochure – are demonstrating how green infrastructure can be best supported and built up in the future.

Green Infrastructure – Training manual for trainers

This manual was designed for practitioners in both governmental and non-governmental institutions to help them raise awareness about green infrastructure. It can be used to train oneself and one’s team as well as serving as a workshop plan for educators.

Green infrastructure and territorial cohesion (EEA report 2011)

This report explores the concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) with illustrative examples; analyses the integration of GI into policy sectors; provides examples of monitoring systems/spatial information that can be utilised for spatial planning of GI, and suggests exploitable opportunities.

Green infrastructure

Key documents

Further reading