Climate & environment

Asset managers are waking up to the economic impact of biodiversity loss, and support efforts to counteract the loss of nature. But measuring a portfolio company’s impact on biodiversity remains a challenge.

In brief

Biodiversity is seen as the next stop in sustainable investing
But measuring the loss of biodiversity is more difficult than measuring CO2 emissions.
Robeco sees […]

Professor Geyer asks plenty of pointed questions. If corporate greening is really making such tremendous strides, then why is the world’s health deteriorating? In his book he argues for a new, ‘net-green’ paradigm.

The Climate Endowment looks to keep things simple and low-risk. “Big pension funds and institutional investors are conservative, you can’t persuade them to make a trade-off on returns,” says its founder Philippe Desfosses.

Much more than a textbook, ‘Principles of sustainable finance’ is more a ‘call to arms.’ This fascinating take on the world of sustainable finance pulls no punches for the financial sector.

Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, has raised €150mn for its early-stage environmental impact fund.

After years of negotiations, a deal on the rules governing global trading in carbon offsets was reached at COP26. Barbara Baarsma, CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank, expects a strong surge in demand for high-quality carbon credits.

To scale carbon trading the Voluntary Carbon Market will have to become more transparent, providing investors with clearer means for evaluating investment opportunities.

The debt-for-nature swap (DNS) formally announced by Belize and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) during the COP26 climate change meeting in Glasgow could trigger a resurgence of the financial instrument.

Britain’s Prince Charles called it “the last chance saloon,” for our planet, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned world leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow the “doomsday clock is still ticking.”

In the week of COP26, Amal-Lee Amin, Senior Advisor to the UK presidency of COP26 and Director of Climate Strategy at UK development bank CDC, shares her insights with us.