ShareAction’s survey of asset managers in 2020 indicated that no asset manager had a stand-alone, dedicated policy to cover biodiversity risks within their portfolios.

Undeniably, asset managers need accurate data to integrate biodiversity-related metrics throughout their investment process but the lack of standardisation in the data collection and methodologies is a challenge. As a proxy, 65% of the respondents have assessed biodiversity-related risks through the use of widely accepted ESG scores from third-party data vendors. This means that data and ratings providers play a critical role in assessing biodiversity risks.

The key thing to do right now is to be informed of where to get reliable data on biodiversity, be updated on new developments in the space, and be introduced to new data suppliers in the market.

In our latest ESG newsletter, we discuss how Substantive Research’s ESG Mapping Tool has been helping investors discover niche data providers that are focusing on measuring biodiversity impacts and quantifying nature-related risks – read the full report below.