Sundsvall: Nature restoration plans from across the Union now sit with the European Commission, after member states submitted their drafts on 31 August 2026 under the Nature Restoration Regulation. Each draft shows how a country expects to meet its binding targets by 2030 and outlines actions through 2040 and 2050. The Commission will review them over the coming months with help from the European Environment Agency.

The law, Regulation (EU) 2024/1991, entered into force in August 2024. Its headline goal asks countries to restore at least 20% of the Union’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The regulation also sets targets for farmland, forests, urban green space, pollinators and free-flowing rivers, and it binds every member state, although governments choose how to get there.

That flexibility shapes the nature restoration plans. Governments can tailor measures to national, regional and local conditions, and they can build on policies already in place. The drafts must also map links to water management, climate action, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, because restoration work touches the sectors that decide how land and sea are used.

The review of the nature restoration plans follows a set sequence. The Commission will send observations to each member state through a process run with national authorities, and it will make those observations public. Responsibility for the content of the plans stays with national governments, so Brussels will comment rather than rewrite. Final national restoration plans are due within one year of the draft submission.

Money is the next question. The Commission says it already supports nature restoration through existing EU funding instruments. For the 2028 to 2034 budget, it has proposed that national restoration plans count explicitly towards a 35% climate and environment spending benchmark. If governments and Parliament accept that link, the nature restoration plans would gain a more predictable funding anchor in the next long-term budget.

The debate comes at a sensitive time. Negotiations on the 2028 to 2034 budget are under way, and capitals disagree about how large the whole budget should be. Farm groups, conservation bodies and regional authorities will all read the drafts for signs of how much land use will change. The Commission’s published observations should let them compare countries on ambition.

Over the next year, the drafts will turn into final documents with sharper detail. The quality of the nature restoration plans will tell observers whether the 2030 targets are realistic, and the Commission’s public comments will show where it sees gaps between promise and delivery.