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One of 2022’s key ESG themes was nature and biodiversity. In March, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), a collaboration of over 100 central banks and supervisors, released a statement acknowledging that nature-related risks could have significant macroeconomic implications, and that failure to account for, mitigate, and adapt to these implications may pose a material financial risk.1 At the same time, there has been growing recognition of the importance of investing in nature-based solutions in order to mitigate climate change and to improve the Earth’s ability to adapt and be resilient to natural disasters.
Discussions on nature as an investment issue culminated at the United Nations’ biodiversity conference (COP15) in December. In what has been called a “Paris moment for nature,”2 196 nations and thousands of business, finance, and civil society observers descended on Montreal, Canada, to discuss, negotiate, and collaborate on the issue of biological diversity. In the end, all participating countries signed on to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which sets out 23 targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and put nature on a path to recovery.3 As part of this, nations agreed to a target to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 – a goal commonly referred to as 30x30. They also set forth a target to take legal, administrative, or policy measures to encourage and enable businesses and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and disclose their risks, dependencies, and impacts on nature and biodiversity.
Defining nature & biodiversity
Nature is comprised of four realms: land, freshwater, ocean, and atmosphere. It is the overarching term that encompasses both the extent (amount) of these realms on Earth, as well as the condition and health of the species and ecosystems that inhabit them. Biodiversity is a characteristic of nature. It can be defined as the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems. This includes diversity of species and ecosystems. Good biodiversity is vital to nature. It supports healthy ecosystems, which in turn clean the water, purify the air, maintain the soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients, and provide food.
Much work remains to put the Global Biodiversity Framework in action. However, for investors, nature-related risks and biodiversity are likely to continue to move up the agenda, as more data, measurements, and disclosure emerge. At RBC GAM, we continued to track developments in the nature and biodiversity space throughout 2022, including by:
- building internal knowledge and understanding of nature and biodiversity loss as a potential investment risk and a potential systemic risk;
- publishing an insight article on investor perspectives on biodiversity and COP15 (Dec 2022); and
- participating in the delegation of the UN PRI at the COP15 biodiversity conference.
In addition, as part of RBC GAM’s ESG integration activities, our investment teams continued to evaluate material ESG factors within their investment decision-making processes for applicable types of investments.4 This includes consideration of factors such as biodiversity and land use, natural resource use, water stress, sustainable forest management, and other factors, when financially material to a sector or issuer. RBC GAM is also a supporting investor of the Investors Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD), and BlueBay is a co-chair of the IPDD.
In focus: emerging markets equity
When it comes to biodiversity-related risk, we view geography and location as key factors. A significant portion of the Earth’s remaining biodiversity is located in emerging markets. In countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, which have an abundance of rainforest and native species, the likelihood of nature-related risk incidents through deforestation and other channels is high. Of the ten countries in the world with the highest count of registered biodiversity risk incidents in 2021, six were within emerging markets; Indonesia and Mexico had the highest proportion of biodiversity-related incidents relative to all risk incidents in those countries, and Brazil had the largest number of biodiversity risk incidents anywhere in the world.5
Such statistics, in addition to on-the-ground investment expertise in emerging markets, led our RBC Emerging Markets Equity team to spend part of 2022 deepening its research and understanding of biodiversity as a potential investment risk.
The team noted that the current lack of company-level, nature-related disclosure means that thoughtful engagement with companies is imperative to understanding the risks and opportunities that businesses face on this subject, and how they approach them. Engagement has always been important to the team’s investment process, and in 2022, the investment team began engaging with investee companies specifically on biodiversity and nature loss.
Although the issue of biodiversity and nature loss is still nascent for many companies, the team has been pleased to see that some issuers have already started to think and act meaningfully on these topics, including by introducing policies, biodiversity-related audits and inspections of high-risk areas of operation, and reporting on biodiversity impacts and dependencies as part of their corporate sustainability reporting.
The investment team also decided to more formally integrate considerations of biodiversity and nature loss within its investment process, specifically including it as part of the team’s consideration of environmental risks within its investment due diligence checklist. The team was also heartened that many of the areas that intersect with biodiversity and natural capital, including climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, waste management and supply chain management, have been part of its analysis of, and discussions with, investee companies for some time.
“We believe that biodiversity and nature loss will become high-profile focuses for the global financial community. With increasing nature-related regulation and initiatives, including the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), it will become incumbent on companies and investors to think meaningfully about these issues and the associated risks and opportunities they face. The importance of the issue in emerging markets is clear, and we look forward to continuing to develop our work and engage with our investee companies on this important topic.”Philippe Langham, Senior Portfolio Manager & Head of Emerging Markets Equities, RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited)
In focus: Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD)
The IPDD is an investor-led sovereign engagement initiative that aims to halt deforestation in some of the world’s most biodiverse, carbon-absorbing biomes. Specifically, the initiative has focused much of its efforts to date on Brazil and Indonesia. Increasingly, sovereign fixed income investors in these markets are considering deforestation as a potential risk to a country’s or investment’s creditworthiness. Collaborative engagement with policymakers is one way that investors can aim to manage potential risks related to deforestation.
In 2022, RBC GAM continued to be a supporting investor of the IPDD, and BlueBay is a co-chair of the IPDD and contributed directly to the initiative’s efforts in Brazil.
In Brazil, where deforestation has been accelerating since 2019, the IPDD’s desired outcomes include the enforcement of Brazil’s Forest Code, the prevention of fires, and public access to data. According to the IPDD’s 2022 report, the group was successful in establishing open dialogue with members and groups within the federal government, congress, embassies, state governments, and key financial organizations. The IPDD is now a valued initiative in Brazil, with Graham Stock, Senior Emerging Market Sovereign Strategist at BlueBay and co-chair of the IPDD, having been invited to speak at the announcement of a national carbon market in Rio de Janeiro in May 2022. While there is much progress to be made, moving forward the IPDD will continue to focus on engaging with federal and state-level government on actions to halt deforestation, and is encouraged that the new government in Brazil is showing a firm commitment in this regard.