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TOP STORY
Study quantifies high reputational risk to public firms in nature-threatening activities
A report published Wednesday has quantified the different reputational risk levels facing firms which undertake extractive projects close to environmentally-sensitive sites, finding that publicly-listed companies operating in proximity to nature are 77% more likely to see damage to their business than those that are not.
MARKET
Lack of policy clarity seen to hamper nature-based project development in Asia
A lack of policy and regulatory clarity surrounding the nature-based carbon market is making it difficult for project developers to make investment decisions, just as the fledgling biodiversity market is emerging as a potential rival, panellists told a conference on Wednesday.
Australian agricultural fund eyes biodiversity, carbon credits
Natural capital investor Kilter Rural will this month launch an A$500-million ($333.7 mln) sustainable agriculture fund that will buy and develop 21,000 hectares of farmland in Southeastern Australia, creating biodiversity and carbon credits in the process.
English region outlines goal to increase nature and climate resilience 30% by 2030
The Kent Wildlife Trust has outlined an ambition to increase wildlife abundance and climate resilience across 30% of Kent in new 2030 strategy, to be partly financed by nature-based solutions such as carbon credits, as well as potentially those which fall under upcoming countrywide biodiversity-supportive regulation, it said Friday.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
World Bank flags massive nature risks for emerging market banking systems
Banks in emerging markets allocate around half – and in some cases much more – of their credit portfolio to businesses highly dependent on ecosystem services, exposing them to significant risks from nature and biodiversity loss, according to the World Bank.
UK-backed nature funding initiative opens call for ocean-based projects
A nature capital alliance in partnership with a UK-government fund, has opened a call for applicants from ocean-based projects, as it aims to drive investment of over $500 million into the space by 2030.
New fund to drive $100 mln in sustainable fisheries investments
Green group WWF and environmental impact firm Finance Earth have teamed up to launch a fund that seeks to catalyse over $100 million in investments in sustainable fisheries by the end of the decade.
UK boosts efforts for nature recovery in new overseas initiative
The UK government has launched a new bid to boost biodiversity recovery in its overseas territories, with large-scale projects funded for the first time to tackle nature loss, it said in a release.
Institutional investment manager charts path for integrating biodiversity into fixed income portfolios
A major investment management firm has charted a pathway for integrating biodiversity into institutional fixed income portfolios, warning that investors face a myriad of regulatory and systemic risks in ignoring the issue.
PNG biodiversity fund issues protected areas funding call
The independent Papua New Guinea Biodiversity and Climate Fund has issued a second funding call for projects aiming to earn protected area status and help the megadiverse country reach its international biodiversity commitments.
MARKET
Forest concessions – The Brazilian senate this week voted in favour of legislation allowing the sale of voluntary carbon credits from public forest concessions, leaving only President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to sign his predecessor’s bill into law. Originally a provisional decree from former President Jair Bolsonaro, the new legislation edits several existing laws to provide public forest concession contracts with the right to sell carbon credits and non-timber forest products and services. In particular, it amends Brazil’s 2006 forest management law to allow carbon credit trading from avoided deforestation, rather than just regeneration projects. (Carbon Pulse)
Let go – US-based forest carbon tech firm NCX is stepping back from project development and shifting strategic focus, laying off nearly half of its remaining workforce after making similar cuts last year amid the global voluntary carbon market downturn. NCX co-founders Zack Parisa and Max Nova posted an online update this week saying the company was slashing 15 staff members – around 40% of the total. Several of those had been involved in developing metrics and other aspects of biodiversity crediting. (Carbon Pulse)
BUSINESS & FINANCE
Having beef – Barclays has told beef sector clients they must prevent deforestation in their South American supply chains, in a policy document seen by Reuters that toughens the bank’s stance but stops short of campaigners’ demands. The British bank has been a particular focus of activists given its role as a financier of Brazilian food-processing company JBS, which has been criticised for its role in deforestation in the Amazon. (Reuters)
HardCORE – Global Affairs Canada, in partnership with the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, will contribute C$8 mln ($5.9 mln) to the Caribbean Organizations for a Resilient Environment (CORE) project, which seeks to increase climate change resilience across Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. Half the amount will go towards grants to local environmental and women’s rights organisations to implement inclusive and gender-responsive nature-based solutions, including ecosystem-based adaptation.
Stepping up – American chocolate and cocoa firm Hershey has partnered with Cote d’Ivoire’s Foundation for the Parks and Reserves to strengthen conservation efforts in the Mabi-Yaya Nature Reserve, located in the West African nation’s main cocoa producing area. The investment will go towards replanting on almost 1,000 ha of degraded land as well as conducting a biodiversity consensus within the reserve and boosting monitoring capabilities.
POLICY
Non-political – Biodiversity beats climate when it comes to swaying Republicans, Bloomberg reports. The topic of biodiversity may be an easier subject to broach with US investors who lean Republican, where conversations about deforestation, water, and land use are more unifying than climate change. “Using phrases related to carbon emissions instantly becomes a highly political conversation in a Republican state,” John Hoeppner, US stewardship and sustainable investment lead at Legal & General Investment Management America, told Bloomberg. Whereas “habitat conservation has support across the political spectrum”, he added. ESG investing has been attacked by GOP politicians with some red states having gone so far as to bar Wall Street firms that promote ESG from managing public funds.
SCIENCE & TECH
Very busy and important – Most of us are annoyed by ants in our gardens. There are so many of them. And if you leave food out on your garden table, even for just a couple of minutes, the table will be swarming with ants when you return. Most garden owners will therefore do everything they can to get rid of ant colonies in their garden. But perhaps we should leave the ants be? Because they are hugely beneficial for biodiversity, a new study published in Arthropod-Plant Interactions shows. (phys.org)
East Asia up – Urgent action is needed to conserve the endangered intertidal zone and associated habitats along the Yellow and Bohai Seas, with populations of globally threatened and near threatened waterbird species continuing to decline, according to IUCN’s new report titled Situation Analysis on the Yellow Sea with Particular Reference to Intertidal and Associated Coastal Habitats. The report provides an update on the status of the Yellow Sea ecosystem since the first publication of the IUCN Situation Analysis, more than ten years ago. (IUCN)
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