October 2020
Protecting biodiversity is a key component of Domini’s Forest Project , and the role of finance in doing so is a major focus. That’s why Domini is proud to join 25 global financial institutions representing $3 trillion in assets under management in signing the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, a commitment to protect biodiversity through financing activities and investments.
“As impact investors, we find it crucial to take concrete measures to protect our planet against biodiversity loss and climate change. To do so, we integrate environmental standards into our investment decision making process and have since 1991. We also seek to engage with companies who are active in finding solutions to preserving species and their ecosystems,” comments Carole Laible, CEO.
Biodiversity loss affects all corners of our lives. It drives risks to human health by increasing the risk and incidence of infectious diseases like the coronavirus, Lyme and West Nile. 1 It threatens the global economy; for example, over 75% of global food crops, worth up to $577 billion annually 2 , depend on animal pollination 3 . Biodiversity is also essential to the health of ecosystems which sequester 60% of global carbon emissions and are vital to slowing climate change. 4
To maintain accountability for restoring and preserving biodiversity, signatories commit to the following by 2024:
- Collaboration and knowledge sharing – We will collaborate and share knowledge on assessment methodologies, biodiversity-related metrics, targets and financing approaches for positive impact.
- Engaging with companies – We will incorporate criteria for biodiversity in our ESG policies, while engaging with companies to reduce their negative and increase positive impact on biodiversity.
- Assessing impact – We will assess our financing activities and investments for significant positive and negative impact on biodiversity and identify drivers of its loss.
- Setting targets – We will set and disclose targets based on the best available science to increase significant positive and reduce significant negative impact on biodiversity.
- Reporting publicly – We will report annually and be transparent about the positive and negative contribution to global biodiversity goals linked to our financing activities and investments in our portfolios.
The pledge was launched during the Nature for Life Hub on September 25 and was featured at the Biodiversity Summit of the United Nations General Assembly on September 30.
1 https://www.sciencedirect.com/…
2 OECD. (2019). Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action. Prepared by the OECD for the French G7 Presidency and the G7 Envionment Ministers’ Meeting. Accessed at https://www.oecd.org/env/resou…
3 Díaz, S., Settele, J., Brondízio, E., Ngo, H. T., Guèze, M., Agard, J.,…Zayas, C. (2019). Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services – unedited advance version. In Ipbes. Accessed at https://ipbes.net/sites/defaul… on September 29, 2020
4 Díaz et al. (2019). Summary for policy makers of global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services Accessed at https://ipbes.net/sites/defaul… on September 29, 2020