Sustainalytics Insight: Biodiversity Referendum & COP16
As investors prepare for the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, most companies aren’t prepared to meet previously agreed upon targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. In fact, many companies barely understand how to even recognize, quantify and measure their biodiversity impact, according to new insight from Morningstar Sustainalytics.
In new analysis, Morningstar Sustainalytics Engagement Manager Gayaneh Shahbazian outlines the challenges facing companies working to close the gap between readiness and reality when it comes to meeting biodiversity targets. According to Shahbazian, just 56% of companies in Morningstar Sustainalytics’ Biodiversity and Natural Capital Stewardship Program have yet to take a strategic approach to this area. And according to Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings data, among companies where biodiversity issues are especially material, more than eight in ten (83%) have no biodiversity target.
Gayaneh Shahbazian – Engagement Manager, Stewardship, Morningstar Sustainalytics:
“Public and private financial flows towards activities with negative impacts on nature immensely outweigh flows to nature-based solutions. The gap between current biodiversity financing and what is needed by 2030 remains vast. Through effective investor stewardship, companies can be encouraged to develop a nature strategy aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework and backed by science-based targets.”
To speak in more detail with Gayaneh, reach out to Tim Benedict at [email protected] or (203) 339-1912.
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