Member States submit their draft national restoration plans to the European Commission today (1 Sep), marking an important milestone in the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.
The national blueprints are a central tool for Member States to deliver the Nature Restoration Regulation's objectives, which entered into force in August 2024.
They are intended to help national authorities organise and scale up restoration action in a way that supports healthier ecosystems, and thereby strengthens resilience to drought, heatwaves, floods and wildfires, and helps safeguard the services that nature provides to people and the economy.
The plans contain information on how the country intends to meet each of the restoration targets up to 2030 and should provide a strategic overview of the targets and actions planned to 2040 and 2050.
Another key element is the identification of potential synergies with other relevant EU policies and legislation, such as water policy and climate change, as well as within agricultural, forestry, marine and fisheries policies. This will help ensure that restoration measures are well coordinated and deliver substantial benefits not only for biodiversity, but also for other major EU policy areas.
Ambitious but flexible plans
The plans to be submitted at this stage are draft plans. Over the coming months, the Commission, with support from the European Environment Agency, will assess the drafts and provide observations to Member States. This assessment phase will be carried out in cooperation with national authorities and will help improve and refine the plans. Final national restoration plans are to be completed within one year.
The Regulation is designed to account for different national, regional and local circumstances in its implementation, including several flexibilities that allow Member States to tailor their plans to their specific ecological, geographic and socio-economic conditions.
Member States can build on existing relevant policies and measures, helping to avoid duplication and making the process more efficient.
Furthermore, the plans are not fixed once and for all: the Regulation provides opportunities to review and update them where appropriate, allowing lessons from implementation to be incorporated over time.
Crucial stakeholder involvement
Many Member States are preparing their plans through cross-sector cooperation and departments, with structured stakeholder involvement. This is essential to ensure that restoration measures are locally adapted, widely supported, and effective in practice.
In several cases, support schemes and public-private partnerships are also being developed to help engage land managers, sea users and businesses.
The Commission will continue to work closely with Member States, stakeholders and the European Environment Agency throughout the next phase.
The Commission’s observations on the draft plans will be made public, while final responsibility for the content of the national plans remains with Member States.
Public and private means needed
The Commission is already supporting nature restoration through existing funding instruments and remains fully committed to strengthening this support.
The current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) provides multiple funding sources relevant for nature. Many Member States, regions and municipalities have also established programmes that already contribute to nature restoration.
In the next MFF (2028-2034), the Commission has proposed to explicitly embed the national restoration plans in the 35% spending benchmark for climate and environment – for the National and Regional Partnership Plans and across the whole budget.
The Commission will provide additional analysis on the financing needs and resources available once Member States have submitted the draft National Restoration Plans and the interinstitutional negotiations on the next MFF have sufficiently advanced to allow for a robust identification of the available sources of EU funding.
Regardless of the EU funding available, Member States should continue to work on mobilising cross-sector budgets at national level, and on attracting private funding.
Background
Nature restoration is a key part of Europe’s response to the growing impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. Restoring ecosystems can help cool cities, improve soil health, strengthen forests, protect water resources and reduce risks for communities and businesses.
Healthy ecosystems are also vital for long-term competitiveness and economic resilience.
That’s why the Nature Restoration Regulation was adopted in 2024. It sets binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the highest potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impacts of natural disasters.
With this Regulation, Europe is also delivering on its international commitments, notably in the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Throughout the implementation process, the Commission supports EU Member States with various resources, including a uniform format, a reference portal with guidelines, a helpdesk, workshops and more.
More information
The EU #NatureRestoration Law | European Commission
Nature Restoration Regulation Implementation | Green Forum
- Publication date
- 1 September 2026
- Author
- Directorate-General for Environment
