Biodiversity and Deforestation

All companies, regardless of sector, have an impact on both biodiversity and ecosystems and depend on ecosystem services. Investors are exposed to biodiversity loss predominantly through land use change as a result of deforestation through clearing land for agriculture.

As a part of our commitment to halt deforestation, we will engage with companies in our portfolio, that are involved in production, trade, use or financing of forest-risk commodities, particularly palm oil, soy, timber and cattle products. We will cooperate with other financial institutions to promote standards for measuring, monitoring and reporting on direct and indirect deforestation risk. By 2020 we will map our portfolio exposure to deforestation risk and report on progress annually.