Swiss data company RepRisk is working on widening the coverage of a tool, which shows the proximity of companies to biodiversity-sensitive sites, to include firms in the power sector, an executive has said.

Users of RepRisk Geospatial will eventually be able to access data on electricity-generating companies, alongside information on firms in the mining and oil and gas sectors, though it could not share a timeline for the update, said Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, chief commercial officer at the organisation.

The location-based tool was launched in 2022 in collaboration with the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance. It shows the proximity of over 65,000 extractive sector projects to 300,000 environmentally sensitive sites.

“We started with the high-risk sectors. We’re working on integrating the power sector, where there are also high biodiversity impacts,” Cichon told Carbon Pulse.

The challenge for RepRisk in implementing the power sector update is creating a coherent dataset from multiple sources, Cichon said.

“First, you need the locations of these projects. There’s a lot of data and technology out there, but it’s not fully fledged, there’s no one provider. There’s not one company that has the GPS coordinates for all sectors.”

“You have to know who has what, how complete it is, how easy it is to integrate with existing data.”

Banks, insurers, and multinational corporates embed the data into their due diligence processes, she said. The information could feed into decisions on exposure to a company, financing of projects, choice of supplier, or engagement on mitigating biodiversity risks.

“It’s accurate and timely, and can be a very powerful resource to have an even more holistic understanding of risk exposure.”

“Data can play a huge role to address gaps. There’s a lot you can do with geospatial technology, with remote sensing and satellite imagery – like deforestation and land use mapping.”

The types of environmentally sensitive sites visible on the tool include those pinpointed by UNESCO World Heritage, Ramsar Wetlands, and the Alliance for Zero Extinction.

REPORTING NOT A SILVER BULLET

Cichon’s comments come at a time of upheaval in regulation on biodiversity data disclosure.

This week, the EU stalled a vote on its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The law, which aims to curb corporate abuses of human rights and the environment, includes obligations to protect elements of biodiversity such as endangered species.

In January, the EU also agreed to delay sustainability reporting for certain sectors and non-EU companies, under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), by two years.

Biodiversity is one of the 12 sustainability subjects covered under CSRD, requiring companies to disclose the distance of their direct operations from protected areas.

However, Cichon remains positive about corporate biodiversity action due to the rapid global acceleration on awareness of nature risks.

“Biodiversity will remain at the top of the agenda, regardless of whether it’s mandated by regulators or not – just like climate change was high on the agenda for years before the regulators started to mandate Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure reporting.”

“A lot of organisations who are ready, who have a higher level of readiness, have already started to do something.”

With the launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) final recommendations last year, organisations have begun embracing biodiversity risks. In January, a cohort of 320 organisations with $4 trillion in market capitalisation committed to adopting the recommendations within the next two years.

“The Global Reporting Initiative has been quite active on biodiversity – they revamped their biodiversity standard. So between that and the TNFD if organisations want to start, they can.”

Nevertheless, reporting is just “one piece of the puzzle”, she stressed.

“Reporting is important. But let’s be clear that it won’t move the needle alone. There’s always a risk that reporting activities become a tick-the-box exercise [where] it’s more about the reporting than actually driving change on the ground.”

Data can provide insight on the risks that companies may not be disclosing, she said.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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