Our global economic system relies on a wide range of financial services to operate. From bank loans to public offerings of shares and from insurance to trade finance. Most of these financial transactions will have an impact on the natural world: directly, for example, through a loan to a timber extraction company, or indirectly, perhaps through a bond deal for a retail clothing company that sells products manufactured from viscose (derived from wood pulp). If we are to halt biodiversity loss, one thing is certain – the finance sector needs to be part of the solution.
Nature in decline
The 2020 Living Planet Report from WWF and ZSL, tells us that wildlife populations have fallen by an average of 68% since 1970. Sir David Attenborough has just released his very personal film, ‘A Life on our Planet’, a deeply felt plea for change in which he shows how life on Earth has declined over his lifetime. Whilst we wait for governments to show leadership by committing to ambitious targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), next year, we already know where some of the most important changes need to happen. Scientists are agreed that we need to achieve, ‘No Net loss of Biodiversity by 2030’, to ‘Bend the Curve’ and halt nature’s decline. What does this mean for businesses and how can the finance sector play a key role in getting financial flows to work for – not against – nature?
