Biodiversity, the next challenge for financial institutions ? A scoping study to assess exposure of financial institutions to biodiversity business risks and identifying options for business opportunities

While the business case for climate change is now widely recognized, the business case for biodiversity has only to a limited extent been addressed. However, "biodiversity" or the ecosystem services that are supporting our way of living, bear characteristics of becoming the next challenge for financial institutions. This report provides a detailed analysis of the business case for financial institutions from a risk perspective. It focuses notably on what the specific implications are for the commercial banking sector, asset managers and investors, and (re)insurance firms in terms of exposure to biodiversity business risks. A general procedure provides an overview of available tools and best-management-practices to enable financial institutions to mitigate any adverse impacts proactively. The report also identifies a number of biodiversity business opportunities that can be captured by financial institutions that make sense both from a financial as well as a conservation perspective. A number of recommendations are presented to both the financial sector, as well as to other stakeholders, such as NGOs, governments and multilateral institutions on how to further build and communicate the business case for biodiversity to the financial community.