international-biodiversity-day-na100

The biodiversity-focused COP 15, in late 2022, elevated the protection of nature as an urgent global challenge. The conference concluded with adoption of a Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) aimed at addressing biodiversity loss by 2030 and restoring ecosystems by 2050.

We’re putting this issue front and centre in our engagement efforts. Engaging with companies on biodiversity is critical, but also complex. To address this, we developed a biodiversity engagement framework¹ focused on industry sectors that have the highest impacts and dependencies on biodiverse ecosystems.

We engage with companies across these sectors with clear expectations guided by sector-specific key performance indicators. Since 2022, we have completed over 30 biodiversity-dedicated engagements and over 100 broader engagements where we discussed biodiversity topics.

While the rapid decline of biodiversity is not a new topic, its broader integration into strategic decision-making is still evolving. From our detailed engagement dialogues we have identified six key challenges:

• Firms are reluctant to align with the GBF due to immature data and methodologies.
• Board expertise is under-developed to tackle this issue.
• Progress on climate change and its interconnectivity with biodiversity can provide lessons on governance and strategies for biodiversity actions.
• High-quality and expansive location-based data on impact and dependency is urgently needed.
• Pioneering companies across different sectors are conducting biodiversity assessments using different methodologies, with first-stage results expected at the end of 2024 at the earliest.
• The risks of investing in biodiversity need to be balanced by the opportunities it presents.

¹ Source: The rules of engagement to protect biodiversity | AllianzGI
² These frameworks are the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Science Based Targets Network and the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures.