On 3 February, EU delegates join government representatives and leading experts at the 12th Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Hosted by the United Kingdom and held in Manchester, the Plenary is expected to conclude its works on 8 February, and it will adopt the assessment report of the impact and dependency of business on biodiversity.
Resulting from three years of work by eighty experts from thirty-five countries, the IPBES Business and Biodiversity report will recommend options to the private sector to ensure resilience, strengthen the long-term competitiveness of businesses, and contribute to a nature positive economy.
This publication follows two reports adopted in December 2024: the IPBES Nexus assessment report tackling the intertwined global crises of biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change; and the Transformative Change assessment report focusing on underlying causes of the biodiversity crisis and showcasing the options to achieve a system-wide reorganisation for a fair and sustainable future.
Additionally, during the Plenary the EU welcomed the five new members of IPBES, including Iceland, Rwanda and three EU Member States: Poland, Malta and Cyprus.
European Union’s contributions to the IPBES 12th Plenary
In 2025, the independent expert report “Policy imperatives for a competitive and resilient nature-positive economy” drew on 44 EU-funded research and innovation projects. The Commission has also supported a research agenda on Navigating the Nexus of Biodiversity and Trade that analyses how trading systems, and the businesses involved in them, are dependent on, and can incorporate biodiversity.
More specifically, the Commission is investing in a broad portfolio of research and innovation projects that address the economic dimensions of biodiversity. These include initiatives advancing the Nature Positive Economy, such as GoNaturePositive; projects focused on mobilising and structuring biodiversity finance, including BIO-CAPITAL, BIOFIN and Nature-3B; and efforts to strengthen natural capital accounting through projects like A-TRACK, CIRCHIVE and SELINA.
The RESPIN project presented the self-paced course “IPBES and IPCC: Bridging Science, Policy and Practice” at the IPBES stakeholder day which took place on 2 February. The EU is also supporting work on biodiversity-related risks and insurance, with projects such as INVEST4NATURE, NATURANCE and SUSTAIN.
About transformative change, a new brochure summarised the more than 40 EU-funded projects under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe focusing on transformative change for biodiversity, while 35 new research projects have been selected under the #BiodivTransform call by the European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+, which also just published three 3 reports focusing on how biodiversity data are already being used and shared in practice in Europe, and how this can be strengthened to support real-world action.
Background
IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established in 2012 to provide decision makers with the most comprehensive scientific information on biodiversity. The EU has had the status of IPBES enhanced observer since 2018, and it takes part in the IPBES Plenary represented by delegates of the European Commission. Currently composed of 152 governmental representatives, hundreds of world experts and observers, IPBES
- Provides objective scientific assessments on biodiversity;
- Helps to highlight and prioritise knowledge gaps and research needs on the topic of biodiversity;
- Enhances the capacity of institutions and the skills of scientists across Europe and beyond, thanks to scientific cooperation;
- Supports policymakers with tools and scientific methodologies;
- Enhances communication and outreach on biodiversity;
Based on input from thousands of experts, IPBES’s reports are regarded as the most authoritative source of information on the science of biodiversity, ensuring the highest standards of quality and policy relevance. They inform the UN’s biodiversity negotiations and have played a critical role in shaping the global response to the nature crisis.
How the EU research and innovation contribute to IPBES and science cooperation for biodiversity
The European Union is a major donor to IPBES, contributing EUR 9 million to its Trust Fund (2019-2028) from EU’s research and innovation budget. Through its research programmes (Framework Programme 7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe), the EU funds impactful biodiversity research projects that include coordination actions filling critical knowledge gaps and delivering policy-relevant outcomes to support the European Green Deal and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Under Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme for 2021-2027, the European Union invests over EUR 1 billion in biodiversity. The results of this research inform current and future IPBES assessments. Overall, 10% of Horizon Europe budget 2026-2027 is devoted to tackling biodiversity, supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal.
