Getting involved
The first phase of the NVI is complete. During it, a toolkit was created to enable institutional investors to better understand the impacts and dependency of their investments on biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES). A key element of the toolkit is the Ecosystem Services Benchmark (ESB) which evaluates corporate approaches to managing impacts and dependence on BES.
The ESB was tested on 31 investment holdings of the following companies: Aviva Investors, F&C Investments, Grupo Santander Brasil, Insight Investment, Pax World and VicSuper. We adjusted the toolkit based on the results of this pilot study, and have now made the ESB available for groups to use and adapt as required..
The Initiative welcomes the involvement of more financial institutions in road testing the toolkit, especially those with holdings in or who are based in Latin America.
We encourage investors to:
- Use the NVI’s briefing document and public report to build understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Review and adapt the ESB, integrating elements of it into broader investment decision making processes
- Apply the ESB to their investment portfolio, using the outcome to inform their engagement process/ dialogue with high risk companies
The Natural Value Initiative intends to repeat this benchmarking exercise in 2010-11, working with our collaborating investors to engage with the companies being evaluated to encourage performance improvement. We invite investors that are not yet engaged in this initiative to join us in this work, to gain a better understanding of this emerging issue and how it impacts risk within their investment portfolio.
Participation has the following benefits:
- Improved understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem service risks and opportunities
- Improved investment risk and opportunity management
- Informed input into your investee engagement strategy.
Contact info@naturalvalueinitiative.org for details. Alternatively, you can simply keep track of the initiative by signing up to our e-newsletter
