From banks to insurance companies, some key financial institutions are beginning to recognize rising risks to investments from biodiversity and ecosystems loss. These are some of the findings from a new CEO Briefing by UNEP FI, entitled Demystifying Materiality: Hardwiring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services into Finance, launched at the UN biological diversity convention meeting in Nagoya, Japan. UNEP FI Co-Chair Richard Burrett said: “As the global financial sector recovers and moves into the post financial crisis era, there is one notion that crystallises before our eyes more acutely than ever: we need to understand systemic risk in a genuinely holistic way. This CEO Briefing underscores the critical natural capital that underpins our economic activity and financial capital. As the finance sector, we need to ensure that we operationalise this thinking in the management of investment and lending activities. The CEO Briefing shows why this is the case.”
Read the report. Japanese version. German version. Senior executives’ commentary.
Press Release. Press release in Spanish. Media coverage.