Institutional investors are marshaling their collective force to tackle nature loss and biodiversity decline through a new initiative announced at the ongoing U.N. biodiversity conference in Montreal.
The Nature Action 100 initiative was announced Sunday and will formally launch in spring 2023 as more signatories are added. As delegates at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) continue negotiating this week on a global biodiversity framework, the investor group pledged to identify private sector actions and ways to catalyze companies to take them.
Nature Action 100 will focus on companies in key sectors considered systemically important for reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030. Their work will include mapping sector pathways and identifying 100 focus companies for investor engagement, with the companies' progress tracked against key indicators, it said in a news release.
Launching investors include AXA Investment Managers, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Church Commissioners for England, Domini Impact Investments, Federated Hermes, Karner Blue Capital, Robeco, Storebrand Asset Management, Christian Brothers Investment Services and Vancity Investment Management.
Organizations involved in the initiative include the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, Ceres, the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and Planet Tracker.
"The need to protect the long-term viability of our planet for future generations is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Nature Action 100 was therefore conceived as an investor-led initiative to bring about a paradigm shift in the relationship between business and nature," said Andrew Niebler, co-founder of Karner Blue Capital, in the release.
