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TOP STORY
FEATURE: Venture capital starts to bet big on biodiversity
A global challenge presents a global opportunity, according to venture capitalists (VC) from Silicon Valley to Singapore who see biodiversity companies as a new attractive area for investments, including one announced on Wednesday that will solely invest in biodiversity-related companies.
MARKET
INTERVIEW: Asset manager creates biodiversity corridors despite credit uncertainty
Climate Asset Management has set aside 10% of a land acquisition in Australia for supporting biodiversity despite no clear way of capitalising on it through nature-related credits, its CEO has said.
Robust dialogue can set biodiversity credit market on the right start, says environmental NGO
A global environmental NGO has released a whitepaper outlining their position on biodiversity credits, as it seeks to establish high integrity across the emerging market.
New Zealand outfit adds more biodiversity credit types
A New Zealand-based company on Wednesday announced it has launched biodiversity action credits tied to the conservation of two species of bird around the Southern Lakes Sanctuary on the country’s South Island, to add to its existing offerings.
Trio releases reef credit method for grazing land management
A group of Australian companies on Monday released a draft method to allow landowners to earn reef credits from improved grazing land management in a bid to boost soil health and improve water quality at the Great Barrier Reef.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
80% of TNFD members want to adopt its recommendations by 2026, chair says
Around 80% of the 1,100 members of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) forum said they would adopt its recommendations by 2026, the co-chair of the taskforce has said.
Impact loan to set Philippines MPAs on track to economic independence
The philanthropy arm of asset manager UBS has provided an impact loan designed to enable the manager of a group of essential Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines to implement a number of revenue-generating initiatives, in what the parties say is a transformative deal for ocean conservation.
Investor reduced its exposure to UK water companies due to pollution
Allianz Global Investors has reduced its exposure to UK water companies due to risks associated with them dumping sewage in waterways, an executive at the firm said as the company ramps up its nature-related engagement.
No excuses for finance that causes deforestation, initiative says
Financial institutions can no longer claim a lack of data means they can’t track their impact on forests for net zero and TNFD processes, according to a new report released by a US-government-backed initiative.
Insurance sector needs to step up to properly underwrite biodiversity risk, report finds
A Switzerland-based international NGO has stressed the importance of insurers in incentivising biodiversity loss, calling on them to integrate biodiversity risk properly within their business activities.
Finance coalition outlines biodiversity guidance for action from central banks
An organisation representing eight central banks has issued guidance on how financial institutions can approach nature-related risk.
Financials urge global standards body to prioritise biodiversity over social issues
Financial organisations from across the globe have asked an international standard-setting body on disclosures to prioritise researching biodiversity.
Wood products worst in manufacturing for biodiversity, CDC Biodiversite says
Wood-based products have the highest biodiversity impacts within the manufacturing sector relative to their output, French consultancy CDC Biodiversite has said.
TOOLS & GUIDANCE
Business coalitions band together to guide companies to boost biodiversity
Three global business coalitions have released co-produced foundational guidance to lead companies to a “nature-positive” future, as corporate focus on risks and dependencies ramps up.
Free biodiversity risk tool launched by Swiss tech firm
A Biodiversity Risk Assessment (BioRA) tool has been launched by technology company Ceven that is free to use at its basic level.
POLICY
EU Taxonomy will not include fish farms for two years, think-tank exec predicts
Fish farming will not enter the EU’s list of sustainable investment activities for at least two to three years, an executive at non-profit think-tank Planet Tracker has predicted.
Queensland state govt to fund environmental accounting in bid to capitalise on biodiversity market opportunities
The Queensland state government in Australia on Wednesday said it will fund better uptake of Accounting for Nature’s environmental accounting framework to provide stakeholders with better tools to measure the environment.
PROJECTS
US-Peru debt-for-nature swap to protect Amazonian biodiversity hotspots
Peru will redirect $20 million of its debt to the US to spend on conservation efforts in some of the most biodiverse areas in the Peruvian Amazon.
UK’s rare species get £14.5 million funding boost
The UK government on Thursday announced fresh funding for ongoing efforts to boost species recovery in one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries.
MARKET
Big deal – Zambia has signed an agreement with a Chinese forestry firm to commission the development of nature-based carbon credit projects that will cover more than 4 mln ha or some 5% of the African nation’s landmass. The deal was inked between Zambia’s Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and Jiangxi Fenglin Investment and Development Co., according to a Facebook post by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in China. Jiangxi Fenglin will also be authorised to establish 100,000 ha of artificial forests, which Bloomberg appeared to report as meaning slash pine. (Carbon Pulse)
Getting bigger – Savimbo, the US startup generating biodiversity credits with Indigenous small farmers in the Amazon, has increased its project area to 16,500 ha, founder Drea Burbank announced in a LinkedIn statement this week. As recently as mid-July the group had signed up with 135 farming families and four Indigenous groups covering 4,500 ha. Savimbo sells the credits via its website, with each representing 60 days of the presence of a pre-defined indicator species at an area of 1 ha.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Blue tracker – Rockefeller Asset Management and KraneShares have introduced the US-listed KraneShares Rockefeller Ocean Engagement ETF (ticker: KSEA), aimed at investing in public companies making a substantial impact on oceans and ocean resources. Part of the growing “blue economy”, which emphasises sustainable and ocean-positive benefits, the KSEA focuses on shareholder engagement activities that foster pollution prevention, carbon transition, and ocean conservation. The portfolio encompasses a range of sectors including aquaculture, renewable energy, and waste management. Leveraging Rockefeller’s expertise in engagement and sustainability, the fund seeks to capitalise on the blue economy’s potential to grow at double the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, working towards competitive returns and better ocean health. Currently, the global economic output from the ocean stands at $2.4 trillion annually, ranking it as the seventh-largest economy globally if considered as a country.
Spending more – The Victoria state government in Australia has opened a second round of funding through its Nature Fund, making A$3.5 mln ($2.26 mln) available to restore habitat and protect at-risk native species, it announced Thursday. The fund promotes collaboration with private and philanthropic groups, and has so far distributed A$10 mln to 22 projects since launching last year.
Foodie guide – Guidelines for how agricultural and food-related businesses can tackle their impacts on nature have been launched by the EU-funded TEEBAgrifood for Business project. The 168-page document has a step-by-step approach to help businesses assess their relationship with the environment. The recommendations target agrifood but can also be used by other sectors.
POLICY
Fight them on the beaches – The Australian federal government will aim to prevent any more species from becoming endangered or extinct due to feral cats, it said in a new action plan where it announced a war against feral cats. While the main effect the cats have on other species is direct predation, they can also compete for food and increase the risk of some diseases. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said feral cats kill an estimated 2 bln animals per year, which equates to 6 mln per night. (ABC)
Adding to collection – Two new protected areas in Thailand, Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary-Nam Nao National Park and the Phu Kradueng National Park, were recently officially declared as the 56th and 57th ASEAN Heritage Parks during the 17th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME), the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity has announced. One of ASEAN’s flagship initiatives, the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHP) Programme was designed to build a network of protected areas that best represent the region’s shared natural heritage. The now 57 AHPs in the region were given the distinction due to their ecological and biological richness and effective protected area management.
Plantation halt – Two plantation companies operating in Indonesia have been legally required to stop clearing forest for palm oil production in their concessions and to preserve what remains, under a court ruling. The Indonesian court rejected the lawsuits filed by the companies following a government cancellation of permits in Jan. 2022, on the basis that the companies awarded the concessions were moving too slowly in exploiting the natural resources. A government evaluation of both concessions found that although rainforest had been cleared, the plantations had been left mostly idle, with no reports of production or harvesting carried out yet. The two companies to have filed the lawsuits were PT Megakarya Jaya Raya (MJR) and PT Kartika Cipta Pratama (KCP), which have been linked to Pacific Inter-Link, a holding of the Yemeni-based Hayel Saeed Anam conglomerate. The project area is divided into seven concessions, sitting on an immense block of primary forest spanning 280,000 ha of rainforest in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. The site would be the single-largest bloc of oil palms in Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, were it exploited for palm oil. Indigenous people living in the area welcomed the court ruling, but pointed out that communities in the concession areas still lack legal recognition of their ancestral rights to these forests. (Mongabay)
Stopping it – Logging in high value koala habitat on the New South Wales mid-north coast will cease immediately while the state government consults experts about plans to establish a great koala national park. This week’s announcement follows weeks of pressure from communities that had accused the state government of stalling on an election promise and allowing forestry operations to continue in areas that had been earmarked for the proposed park. The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, said the government had suspended logging operations in 106 “koala hubs” – areas of important habitat the NSW environment department identified in 2017 but which no government has acted to protect. (Guardian)
Offset concerns – The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) is concerned that a biodiversity offset agreement between Karpowership South Africa (KPSA) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife undermines the country’s commitment to sustainable development. South Africa’s offsetting regulation guidance was introduced in June this year, and so implementation so far has been limited. WESSA is concerned that the purchase of a game ranch to offset biodiversity from KPSA estuarine project will not mitigate any negative impacts due to the deal’s opaqueness. The organisation is calling for the offsetting agreement to be made publicly available to allow for scrutiny. (IOL)
Water bungling – EU policies on water are “not sufficiently implemented” while being “undermined” by other EU legislation like the Common Agricultural Policy, WWF has said in a report. The non-profit revealed examples of water mismanagement in Spain, the Netherlands, France, and Bulgaria. “A change of paradigm needs to happen to preserve the water cycle,” it said.
SCIENCE & TECH
Health check – Six out of nine planetary safety boundaries have been crossed, while two more are close to breaking, in the “first” such quantification exercise, scientists have said. The broken boundaries are: biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, chemical waste, and climate change, the Stockholm Resilience Centre said. (Guardian)
Human nature – The EU-funded European Biodiversity Partnership has called for applications for three-year research projects on nature-based solutions on the themes of their relationship with human wellbeing, mitigating drivers of biodiversity loss, and contribution to “just transformative change”. The first deadline for applications is Nov. 10, the European Commission said.
Bug life – Sustainable agricultural methods support insects, a study published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has said. Researchers counted 167 insects on average on 10 farms implementing sustainable actions in Guatemala, while 10 conventional farms had only 87 insects over the same period. Biodiversity-friendly practices include farming on a slope, giving fruit trees individual terraces, and growing more than one crop in an area, IUCN said.
Intact Africa – A research organisation has announced a biodiversity intactness index for sub-Saharan Africa following four years of work costing $150,000 of funding. Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Sustainability Transitions produced the research by blending the knowledge of more than 200 people across the continent to combine new data sets that stretch nearly continent-wide. The index maps changes to species abundance remains from pre-industrial times until the present and breaks data down by species groupings across the region. In addition to the importance of forestlands, the results showed that rangelands are more important than previously thought, whereas croplands tend to be more devoid of species. The maps are expected to be released by the end of the year. (Daily Maverick)
Ant Landing – Scientists from the Spanish Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) have confirmed the presence of invasive red fire ants in Sicily, reported Cosmos. The species is the fifth most costly invasive species and has the potential to quickly spread through coastal cities across Turkey, throughout Western Europe and North Africa, and as far north as the United Kingdom. The scientists’ tests revealed 88 nests within a 4.7-ha area, housing thousands of ants, which can have a profound impact on people’s lives due to their aggressiveness and abundance, the researchers said.
Cocoa collaboration – Nestle and Cargill are trialling an initiative in the UK to produce environmentally friendly fertiliser using cocoa shells from a confectionary site in York as the key input. The two-year regenerative agriculture trial will evaluate the fertiliser’s performance on crop production, soil health, and GHG emissions reduction. If successful, up to 7,000 tonnes of the low-carbon fertiliser will be produced and offered to farmers in Nestle’s wheat supply chain in the UK, equating to about a quarter of the company’s total fertiliser use in the country. More than half of the carbon footprint of UK wheat is related to fertiliser use, and recycling valuable nutrients from waste streams is a great way to lower that emissions impact. The initiative would also help Nestle to achieve its net zero by 2050 goal and to source half of its key ingredients from regenerative agricultural methods by 2050. Cargill will supply the cocoa shells, which it processes at the York facility to become a key ingredient in products like the iconic KitKat and Aero chocolate bars.
Everything is connected – A study led from the Queen Mary University of London found that the movement of water between freshwater bodies, or freshwater connectivity, can transport eDNA. The researchers found that within-lake eDNA generally reflected the habitat preferences of the species, but that some eDNA was also transported into downstream lakes. Lakes with a higher degree of connectivity had more eDNA detections that could not be explained by conventional monitoring techniques. The findings have implications for the use of eDNA to monitor biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. eDNA is a promising tool for biodiversity monitoring, but data must be interpreted in light of connectivity in the landscape.
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