Why biodiversity and nature matter to finance
Michelle Horsfield, a former environmental scientist and executive
director of ESG advisory for the SMBC Group, and Keith Bottomley, deputy
policy chair for the City of London Corporation, talk through the issue of
biodiversity as it relates to finance.
7 key takeaways from this video
- Biodiversity can be defined as the variety of life on earth. Just as
diversity in the workplace leads to a stronger organisation, in nature,
greater diversity leads to better resilience to shocks, particularly
from climate change.
- We are losing biodiversity. For example:
- By 2030, nature loss could cause
global GDP reductions of £2.1tn yearly.
- Biodiversity and nature are often used interchangeably. However, nature
is the term for the systems, features, forces, and processes –
such as the weather, water or carbon cycles – of our world.
Biodiversity is just one part of nature.
- It’s important to identify whether the loss of biodiversity or of
nature is a risk for your firm.
- ‘Ecosystem services’ is a term that captures everything that
our natural ecosystems do for us – such as flood protection or air
filtration – that we don’t pay for with money.
- This is why biodiversity and nature are highly relevant to finance: our
economy has been built without paying for the cost of ecosystem services
–
55% of global GDP
is reliant on them – so it is in our interest that they work.