A group of 204 investors have joined forces to back an initiative on nature stewardship, seeking to pressure 60 companies to improve biodiversity-related risk management and help shape better environmental policies.

During the ongoing London Climate Action Week, UN-supported network Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) released the full list of the targeted firms and the investors that will be engaging with them.

Representing $15 trillion in assets under management (AUM), the investor group includes CCLA Investment Management and Dorval Asset Management, which will lead talks with French cosmetics company L’Oreal.

Erste Asset Management and Osmosis Investment Management will engage with German pharmaceutical company Bayer, while Nomura Asset Management and JGP will lead talks with Japanese carmaker Toyota and Brazilian food processing firm Brasil Foods, respectively.

“What we’re seeing today from investors is a recognition of the importance of nature when managing material investment risks, including deforestation, biodiversity loss, when aligned with their individual fiduciary duty,” said PRI chief executive David Atkin.

Spring launched in Tokyo last year with the aim of enabling investors to play an active role in tackling forest loss and land degradation, regarded as the key drivers of biodiversity loss.

TWO STEPS

The initiative will begin by engaging with 40 firms and financial institutions, including Banco do Brasil, BMW, Mengniu, Santander Group, and Volvo, and then expand to 20 additional firms.

The second batch of companies includes tyre manufacturers Bridgestone, Goodyear, Michelin, and Continental, supermarket chains Carrefour, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco, and mining companies BHP and Eramet.

“These companies have been identified as influential actors in the dynamics of forest loss and land degradation due to either their direct or indirect exposure or their significant role in engaging policymakers,” PRI said in a statement.

Spring will run for at least five years, with PRI now looking to align with other similar programmes.

A separate initiative aimed at ramping up corporate engagement on biodiversity loss, Nature Action 100 (NA100), was announced during the UN COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal in 2022 and is currently backed by 200 institutional investors, representing over $28 trillion in AUM.

By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com

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