A team of scientists led by Clara Grilo, coordinator of the RISKY project, has signed a letter calling on the European Union to place biodiversity at the heart of its €300 billion Global Gateway investment strategy. Without robust safeguards, this initiative risks accelerating biodiversity loss worldwide.
The Global Gateway has enormous potential to advance sustainable development, but without strong protection it could also drive habitat loss and species decline. Currently, 71% of projects focus on energy, transport, and infrastructure, sectors strongly linked to deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and wildlife mortality. Several major projects in Africa and Asia already overlap with critical habitats for threatened species.
They call for standardized biodiversity risk assessments, rigorous environmental evaluations, and transparent monitoring platforms to ensure this vision becomes reality
Read the full study: Grilo, C., Beja, P., Bernardino, J., Ferrand, N., Laurance, W.F., & Clevenger, A.P. (2025). EU’s global investments put biodiversity at risk. Science
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