On October 14, the Green Circle 'Green Healthy City' was launched, with the mission of radically greening the cities of South Holland. NextGreen organized a working session on the financial instruments that can be used for this purpose.

The Green Circle 'Green Healthy City' is a partnership between Staatsbosbeheer (the Dutch Forestry Commission), IVN (the Dutch Nature Education Institute), WUR (Wageningen University & Research), the municipalities of Rotterdam, The Hague, and Dordrecht, Naturalis (the Dutch Natural History Museum), the South Holland Municipal Health Services, LNV (the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality), Alles is gezondheid (Everything is Health), and the province of South Holland. These parties will work together to radically green the cities of South Holland, with benefits for health, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and social cohesion.

During the kick-off meeting of this Green Circle, NextGreen organized one of the four parallel working sessions and invited a number of contacts from the financial sector to contribute their ideas. It was great to facilitate a real in-person workshop again since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Participants explored the financial instruments available for climate adaptation and greening. They worked in groups on the greening of different types of buildings: business parks, commercial real estate, and project development. For each building type, the participants explored the desired greening measures, the benefits and cost-benefit analysis of greening, and relevant financial instruments to fund the greening measures. Inspiration for possible financial instruments came from the climate adaptation financing toolbox that NextGreen co-authored. Combining multiple financial instruments creates a multiple revenue model.

Are you also interested in one or more workshops on financing greening and climate adaptation? Please contact us.]