Amazon has announced our first Right Now Climate Fund project in France, providing €3m of funding to the Fonds Nature 2050, created by CDC Biodiversité. The funding will support the preservation, restoration and management of an estimated 600,000m2 of land in France (an area larger than 80 football pitches) through the implementation of nature-based projects.
The Fonds Nature 2050 is devoted to preserving and restoring biodiversity, while mitigating the consequences of climate change. As well as improving ecosystems’ and territories’ resilience, the program scientifically monitors each project it funds.
Amazon will add €3M over three years to the €8.7M already raised by the Nature 2050 program, which to-date has supported 50 projects and impacted a total of 1,090ha of species-rich habitat across France. This investment makes Amazon one of the key contributors to the program, enabling projects selected by CDC Biodiversité to receive funds, management and monitoring until 2050.
Current projects range from the return of nature to the city as part of a partnership with the Métropole du Grand Paris, to the financing of the transition of agricultural practices. Future projects could include the rewilding of urban land, the preservation of marine ecosystems, the restoration of wetlands, and the adaptation of urban areas. A map of all 50 projects can be found on the Nature 2050 website.
“We’re thrilled to continue the momentum in our program to fund nature-based projects where Amazon does business,” said Julie Laboureix, Director of Retail, Amazon.fr. “CDC Biodiversité has a history of science-based and community-focused work, and we are eager to see the positive results they bring in restoring nature under the ambitious Nature 2050 program, and support our work as part of The Climate Pledge.”
As well as supporting a variety of species through nature-based projects, the program will prioritize nature-based solutions which enhance ecosystems through carbon capture, flood reduction, and the reduction of air pollution. It monitors a range of metrics at each project, including soil organic carbon levels, which indicate how much carbon is trapped by the soil through growing vegetation. This also helps scientists monitoring the program to understand how much wildlife each ecosystem supports.
"When we created the Nature 2050 Agenda, we relied on the warnings of IPBES and the IPCC and on the urgency of engaging in restoration and preservation throughout France to help halt the erosion of biodiversity and provide responses to the acceleration of climate change," said Antoine Cadi, Secretary of the Fonds Nature 2050.
To date, Amazon has invested in a reforestation program in Italy; an urban greening program in Germany; a rewilding and urban tree planting project in the UK; a forest conservation and restoration project in the US Appalachian Mountains; and the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest through the Right Now Climate Fund. Amazon is a key participant in the LEAF Coalition, a new public-private global initiative to raise at least $1 billion to protect the world’s tropical rainforests.
Amazon is the co-founder of and the first signatory to The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. Nearly 400 signatories across 55 industries and 34 countries to date are working together on initiatives to preserve the natural world and invest in decarbonizing technologies.
See more about Amazon’s support for nature-based solutions here.
