What does biodiversity loss mean for financial decision-making? And how are investors starting to respond in practice?
In this webinar, Emine Isciel, Head of Climate and Environment at Storebrand Asset Management, explains how nature is entering investment strategies. The discussion grounds a topic that is often abstract, showing how biodiversity is becoming part of everyday financial decisions.
Biodiversity as a financial issue
Although it underpins much of the global economy, nature remains largely absent from financial reporting. Most companies do not disclose how they depend on ecosystems or contribute to their degradation. For investors, this leaves important gaps.
Risks linked to water availability, land use, regulation or supply chains are often hard to quantify, but they are no longer hypothetical. They are already affecting operations and investment decisions.
Investors are responding in three main ways: directing capital towards more sustainable companies, engaging with companies to improve practices, and excluding activities that are incompatible with sustainability goals.
In practice, engagement takes up most of the effort. Investors increasingly work through coalitions to align expectations and avoid fragmented demands on companies. Initiatives such as Nature Action 100 reflect this more coordinated approach. Divestment remains part of the toolbox, but usually comes after attempts to influence company behaviour.
What still holds progress back
Progress depends heavily on regulation. Isciel pointed to the need for clearer and more consistent signals from policymakers, particularly on disclosure and reporting. Without common standards, comparing companies across sectors and regions remains difficult.
A more fundamental issue is that environmental impacts are still only partly reflected in prices. As long as this persists, biodiversity risks will continue to be unevenly integrated into financial decision-making.
Data is often presented as the main obstacle. In practice, a large amount of information already exists. The difficulty lies in using it. Biodiversity cannot be reduced to a single metric; it requires combining datasets and, crucially, understanding where impacts occur. Location often determines whether a risk is material or not.
Rather than waiting for complete datasets, investors are starting to work with partial information and build from there.
Continuing the discussion
The financial sector is still shaping its approach to biodiversity. Expectations are becoming clearer, but many questions remain, particularly around data, valuation and policy.
Biodiversa+ continues to support this work through tools and exchanges that connect research, policy and finance.
