BNPP AM publishes first biodiversity footprint of investments | Markets | 06.07.2022

One year after the publication of its Biodiversity Roadmap, BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has published the first results of its research into the biodiversity footprint of its assets. To do this, they teamed up with Iceberg Data Lab and I Care & Consult.

BNPP AM performed this analysis based on the Corporate Biodiversity Footprint (CBF) method. More than 1,800 companies are tracked in the asset manager’s stock and bond funds, and they represent 70 percent of the “company”‘s assets under management. Iceberg Data Lab and I Care & Consult have been selected in the 2020 tender by BNPP AM and three other asset managers. The collaboration enabled the development of a tool to identify and quantify the potential negative impacts of conservation companies on biodiversity.

Each environmental impact (land use, air and water pollution, and climate damage) is quantified and then aggregated to calculate each company’s biodiversity footprint, expressed in square kilometers (square kilometres) MSA (average species abundance, average species richness) ) . BNPP AM’s biodiversity footprint is estimated at -8000 km2 MSA, which means that the company’s investment is likely to receive an area equivalent to five times the area of ​​fully degraded London each year.

The publication of this study is also part of the implementation of Article 29 of the French Energy and Climate Code of June 30, 2022, which expands the obligation to report on climate risks to include risks related to biodiversity loss.

“These initial results allow us to further improve our knowledge and create as much transparency as possible about our environmental impact. We will continue to develop the methodologies of Iceberg Data Lab and I Care & Consult, as well as the Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), to which BNP Paribas belongs. and other major initiatives such as the Science Based Alliance for Nature’s Goals Closely,” comments Robert Alexander Bogad, ESG Analyst and Head of Biodiversity at BNPP AM. “In addition to developing these analytical frameworks, we will continue to integrate relevant biodiversity data into our ESG classification system and expand voting activities and stakeholder engagement.” (kilobytes)