Innovative Climate with Biodiversity Positive 2025

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global membership organization composed of government agencies and civil society organizations. It works towards advancing sustainable development and fostering a world that values and conserves nature. IUCN plays a crucial role in providing scientific knowledge, tools, and policy guidance to promote biodiversity conservation, climate action, and sustainable resource management.

Through collaboration with governments, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, IUCN develops and implements nature-based solutions to address global environmental challenges. The organization works across various sectors, including forestry, wetlands, coastal ecosystems, and protected area management, aiming to create long-term sustainability and resilience against climate change.

IUCN’s initiatives focus on ecosystem restoration, biodiversity protection, and climate mitigation through innovative funding mechanisms such as the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM). By mobilizing investments and fostering partnerships, IUCN ensures that conservation efforts are scalable and impactful. Its funding programs, like the Innovation Facility, provide financial and technical support to projects that contribute to environmental sustainability while engaging local stakeholders in meaningful ways.

The IUCN Innovation Facility provides grants to support projects focused on carbon sequestration and nature-based climate mitigation. The grant funding period is up to 24 months, concluding by June 30, 2027. This funding aims to help projects achieve carbon standard registration and attract private sector investments through the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).

Grants range from EUR 750,000 to EUR 1.5 million, with selected projects required to contribute at least 25% of the awarded grant to the total project costs. Successful applicants will implement projects that focus on carbon removal through forest restoration, agroforestry, inland wetland restoration, and coastal wetland conservation.

Projects must be designed for long-term sustainability, continuing their activities beyond the grant period without further support from the Innovation Facility. Eligible activities include restoring degraded forests, implementing agroforestry systems, rehabilitating peatlands, and conserving blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes. These efforts will help mitigate climate change by capturing and storing CO2 while promoting biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.