ACTIAM, Aegon Nederland, Allianz France, ASN Bank, ASR Nederland, AXA Group, Bankinter, Caisse de Dépôts, HBSC Global Asset Management, Karner Blue Capital, NN Investment Partners, NWB Bank, Piraeus Bank S.A, Rabobank, Robeco, Triple Jump and de Volksbank are among 26 financial institutions from around the globe that launched the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge during the Nature for Life Hub at 25 September. In the Pledge the signatories will commit to making a positive contribution to biodiversity through their activities and investments and call upon world leaders to reverse nature loss this decade. The CEO of AXA Group will speak on behalf of the signatories during the Biodiversity Summit of the United Nations General Assembly on 30 September.
Finance for Biodiversity Pledge
The 26 banks, asset managers, insurers and impact funds, with over €3 trillion in assets under management, will collectively commit to collaborating, engaging, assessing their own biodiversity impact, setting targets and reporting on biodiversity matters by 2024 at the latest. An accompanying guidance document clarifies each commitment, providing sources and examples.
Urgent need to preserve biodiversity
The signatories recognize that the Earth’s biosphere is the foundation of human resilience and progress, and that it is under increasing stress. As financial institutions, they emphasize the need to protect biodiversity and to reverse nature loss in this decade, ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in May 2021.
Collective commitment by the financial sector
The Finance for Biodiversity Pledge is a collective commitment by the finance sector itself. The pledge was established by a group of European financial institutions which have been working actively as members of the Finance and Biodiversity Community (F@B Community).
Quotes
“At ACTIAM we believe high environmental returns go hand in hand with financial returns. Biodiversity has always been an important factor in our investments, but biodiversity loss remains a pressing issue. The financial sector has to step up its game. That’s why ACTIAM fully supports this Pledge” – Frank Kusse (CEO ACTIAM)
“Biodiversity underpins everything that sustains us and our society. Permanent loss of biodiversity represents one of the biggest systemic risks for all life on the planet. Immediate action is necessary to mitigate this risk. We will use our influence to encourage the companies we invest in to make positive changes to their operations and products for the benefit of society and the environment. We call on governments, investors and other organizations to take responsibility and join us in this important challenge.” – Maarten Edixhoven (CEO Aegon Nederland)
“Biodiversity is one of our biggest challenges. It is connected to everything that sustains us and is invaluable for future generations. Transformative change on many levels is needed to prevent the loss of 1 mio species in the next decades. We want to take our share of responsibility and contribute to the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems through our activities and investments. We are very pleased with the raised understanding and awareness at regulators and financial institutions about the importance of biodiversity. We urge other financials to join the finance for biodiversity pledge and join the PBAF initiative.” – Arie Koornneef (CEO ASN Bank)
“Human well-being and quality of life on the planet are inextricably linked to biodiversity. With the Finance Biodiversity Pledge, a.s.r. wishes to endorse the initiative to prevent loss of nature. We will make an effort to ensure that our investments (in real estate) contribute to the restoration of biodiversity.” – Jos Baeten (CEO ASR Nederland)
New signatories are very welcome to join
Financial institutions from all continents that are not yet involved with the Pledge are strongly encouraged to sign up to it. Please visit www.financeforbiodiversity.org for more information and to sign up.
The 26 signatories of the Pledge are:
