BioClima Biodiversity-and-Climate Credit Scheme (Italy)

The BioClima programme was launched by Lombardy Region (Italy) in 2022 as a competitive grant scheme pairing public investment with mandatory private corporate co-financing to deliver certified ecosystem services across the regional protected area network.

Lombardy Region awarded EUR 3.5 million in grants to conservation bodies — parks, consortia, and municipalities — operating within the regional protected area network, with a mandatory 30% private co-financing requirement designed to unlock additional corporate investment.

Over 100 corporate sponsors contributed approximately EUR 1.5 million, bringing total mobilised finance to about EUR 5.6 million across twelve funded projects in Lombardy's parks; corporate buyers purchase the resulting voluntary ecosystem-service credits via the WOWnature platform, operated by programme coordinator Etifor.

By programme close (December 2025), outcomes included over 66,000 trees planted, more than 300 hectares of forest under improved management, and 4,635 hectares of park forest brought under FSC® certification. Independent FSC® third-party auditors confirmed that 1,463 hectares met the certified ecosystem-service impact thresholds required to generate voluntary BioClima credits; a parallel intervention in the Orobie Valtellinesi Park recorded 187 hectares of targeted improvements, confirmed by the ALPARC alpine parks network.

The scheme is documented by the EU-funded INTERLACE research network as a replicable sub-national voluntary market model. Limitations remain: no peer-reviewed ecological evaluation has been published, Etifor serves as both programme coordinator and technology provider, and FSC® certification verifies forest management practice rather than specific species-recovery outcomes.