More asset owners and managers have signed the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, and now represent €16.3 trillion ($15.9 trillion) in assets and 111 signatories from 20 countries.
The latest tally was announced by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation during the European Commission's European Business and Nature Summit on Tuesday.
The Finance for Biodiversity Pledge is a commitment of financial institutions to protect and restore biodiversity through their finance activities and investments. Signatories commit to take five steps: collaborating and sharing knowledge, engaging with companies, assessing impact, setting targets and reporting publicly on those efforts before 2025.
Signatories now include six pension funds, with the recent addition of Andra AP-fonden and Velliv Pension & Livsforsikring, pledge officials said in a news release.
Andra AP-fonden, known as AP2, Gothenburg, Sweden, had assets of 411.7 billion Swedish kronor ($40.4 billion) at the end of June.
Steen Michael Erichsen, CEO of Danish pension provider Velliv, Pension & Livsforsikring, said in the release that investors "can play a part in protecting and restoring biodiversity. By joining the pledge, we take the first step in taking responsibility for the impact our investments have on the world's ecosystems."
The latest asset managers to sign the pledge include abrdn, Aema Groupe, Ethical Partner Funds Management, Green Century, Lazard Freres Gestion, NN Group, PGGM, Pictet Group, Schroders, SG 29 Haussmann and Societe Generale Private Wealth Management.
The biodiversity pledge is gaining signatories in advance of the U.N. Biodiversity Conference that begins Dec. 7 in Montreal. Known as COP15, it will convene governments from around the world to reach agreement on goals for nature over the next decade through a Convention on Biological Diversity framework.
Another round of signatories to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge will be announced during COP15, organizers said.
