Luxembourg’s Minister for the Environment, Serge Wilmes, announced on Friday that the government will seek to extend the deadline for compensatory nature measures in the Minett region, southern Luxembourg, until 2033 – a move designed to ensure the destruction of natural habitats is fully compensated or replaced.
The eco-point system in Luxembourg is a mechanism designed to quantify the impact of development on protected natural habitats and to ensure adequate ecological compensation. Under this system, the destruction of biotopes or species’ habitats is assessed and assigned a value in eco-points, with rarer or more difficult-to-replace habitats receiving a higher score. Developers are required to pay a fee to the state based on the number of eco-points incurred, with each eco-point equivalent to one euro. The system is managed through a national registry, which also oversees the allocation of compensatory measures to guarantee that lost biodiversity is restored, either in the same area or elsewhere within the country.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Wilmes stated that the eco-point compensation system, governed by the Nature Conservation Act, had produced positive results across most of the country, with compensatory efforts being “generously distributed”, except in the Minett area. He said, “The eco-point-compensation system will lead to more natural habitats and greenery,” and expressed satisfaction with the scheme’s overall outcome, noting that more natural habitats had been reinstated than destroyed.
The Nature Conservation Act was revised in 2018, transferring responsibility for compensation from developers to the government. Previously, public or private developers who damaged protected biotopes or species’ territories were required to organise, implement and maintain their own compensatory measures. Under the revised legislation, the government assumed this responsibility, allowing for a more systematic approach.
Mr Wilmes explained that, while the national situation was “even above what is needed”, the south of Luxembourg remained in “a slight deficit”. He confirmed, “We have a deadline, September of this year, stating that until then all nature which had been destroyed should be fully compensated. I thus proposed a draft bill to extend this deadline to 2033, which means we will be given an additional time of eight years to always have enough territories to work on at our disposal, especially in the south.”
The compensation system operates on the basis of eco-points, with the extent of destruction and the creation of new biotopes both measured accordingly. Biotopes that are rare or particularly difficult to recreate are assigned a higher number of eco-points. Developers must pay a tax to the government corresponding to the number of eco-points required – one eco-point being equivalent to €1. The trade and allocation of eco-points is managed by a national registry, which also takes into account the type of biotope destroyed.
Carmen Weisgerber, acting head of the Nature and Forest Agency (ANF), said the registry “ensures the creation of a similar biotope in the same area”. She explained, “Behind the scenes, based on the empirical value of the recreation, compensatory projects are worked out. Every project is part of a larger surface plan, which includes separate compensatory projects. At each construction site, the agency analyses the state of the territory and which plans we can actually implement.”
Looking ahead, the Nature and Forest Agency aims to further simplify the system by enabling municipalities to acquire their own land for compensation purposes. This would allow for more localised compensatory measures in response to development that has impacted natural areas.
