During a main stage session at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Montreal, a group of institutional investors announced the formation of Nature Action 100, a new global engagement initiative which focuses on investors driving urgent action on the nature-related risks and dependencies in the companies they own.
Nature Action 100 aims to drive greater corporate ambition and action on tackling nature loss and biodiversity decline, and will complement the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework by identifying the private sector actions that need to be undertaken to protect and restore nature and seek to catalyze these actions via investor-company engagements. A formal launch of the Nature Action 100 initiative will take place next year.
More than half of the world’s GDP ($44 trillion of economic value generation) is either moderately or highly reliant on nature’s services, and by some estimates, tens of billions of dollars in assets could be at risk of stranding over the next five to 10 years if companies continue to produce deforestation-linked commodities. In addition, wildlife populations have declined by an average of 69% since 1970, with an estimated one million plant and animal species at risk of extinction by 2050 – approximately 25% of all species on Earth. By the end of the century, 50% or more is at risk.
Investors will focus on companies in key sectors that are deemed to be systemically important to the goal of reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030. They will work to ensure companies are taking timely and necessary actions to protect and restore nature and ecosystems. Specifically, the initiative will:
- Map sector pathways and identify a list of 100 focus companies for investor engagement.
- Support engagements between investor teams and focus company executives and board members around initiative priorities.
- Identify corporate actions that need to be undertaken to protect and restore nature.
- Track the progress of focus companies against key indicators and provide annual progress updates.
- Support investor and corporate advocacy efforts with relevant policymakers on nature-focused policies.
Investors that have already expressed interest in the initiative will receive more information in the coming months. New investors can express their interest here.
