Greening Cities Partnership releases new tools for financing urban green infrastructure
Financing urban green infrastructure remains one of the key challenges for cities seeking to restore biodiversity, adapt to climate change and improve public spaces. While the value of urban greening is widely recognised, many local authorities still face fragmented funding, limited capacity, complex procedures and long-term maintenance gaps.
To support local authorities, the Greening Cities Partnership has developed two complementary outputs under its work on funding and innovative financing: From Barriers to Drivers – Financing Urban Green Infrastructure through Innovation and Partnership, and the Repository of Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Green Infrastructure. Together, they help cities understand financing barriers, identify suitable mechanisms and build more sustainable investment pathways for urban greening.
Why financing green infrastructure remains difficult
While the benefits of urban green infrastructure are widely recognised, financing it remains a persistent challenge for many local authorities. Cities often face complex funding procedures, limited capacity to prepare investment-ready projects, fragmented responsibilities across departments, and insufficient co-financing opportunities.
A particular challenge is maintenance. Green infrastructure is living infrastructure: trees, soil systems, rain gardens, wetlands and green corridors require continuous care. Yet many funding programmes still prioritise capital investment, leaving cities without reliable resources for long-term upkeep. Without adequate maintenance, the climate, biodiversity and public-space benefits of green infrastructure can quickly decline.
These challenges make clear that cities need more than individual grants. They need practical financing models, stronger governance arrangements and tools that help integrate urban greening into long-term municipal planning and budgeting.
From barriers to drivers: practical guidance for cities
The Financing Guide provides practical guidance for cities seeking to overcome common financing barriers and move towards implementation. It identifies key drivers such as clearer funding pathways, stronger project preparation support, improved cross-departmental coordination, blended financing approaches, regulatory tools, and better planning for long-term maintenance.
Rather than offering a single solution, the guide helps cities think strategically about how to combine funding sources, partnerships, governance arrangements and lifecycle planning. It is designed as a practical reference for local authorities working to make urban green infrastructure more finance-ready and sustainable over time.
A repository of mechanisms: turning guidance into options
The Repository of Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Green Infrastructure complements the Financing Guide by helping cities explore concrete funding and financing options. It presents a structured overview of mechanisms, explaining how they work, who pays, whether repayment is required, what risks may arise, and which enabling conditions are needed.
The repository is designed to support practical decision-making rather than prescribe a single solution. It helps municipal teams compare different instruments, understand their implications, and identify which mechanisms may fit their local legal, financial and governance context.
Toward more financially robust urban greening
Taken together, the two outputs provide a practical pathway for cities to move from ambition to implementation. The Financing Guide helps local authorities understand the main barriers to financing urban green infrastructure, while the Repository translates this guidance into concrete mechanisms and options.
Their shared message is clear: financing urban green infrastructure is not only about finding more money. It is also about structuring resources better, combining funding and financing tools, building partnerships, clarifying responsibilities and planning for long-term maintenance.
This is increasingly important as cities prepare and implement Urban Nature Plans, contribute to National Restoration Plans, and support delivery of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Nature Restoration Regulation.
Financing urban green infrastructure is not only about finding more money. It is also about structuring resources better, combining funding and financing tools, building partnerships, clarifying responsibilities and planning for long-term maintenance.
Next steps
The Greening Cities Partnership will continue promoting the uptake of these outputs among cities, Member States and EU-level stakeholders. The upcoming EUI capacity building event on Nature Restoration Regulation, that aims to support urban authorities in moving from awareness of the NRR to implementation readiness, will be a great opportunity to harness Greening Cities Partnership practical tools and approaches.
The Partnership’s next in-person meeting, taking place in Imola on 29–30 June, will provide a further opportunity to prepare upcoming policy and advocacy activities, discuss how its outputs can be promoted at national and local level, and reflect on how its results and tools can remain useful beyond the Partnership’s formal implementation period.