The Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and the EU B&B Platform have published the fifth update of the Collaborative Engagements Overview, which acts as an annex to the Guide on Engagement with Companies.
Supporting Financial Institutions to engage collaboratively with companies on biodiversity
The Guide on Engagement with Companies and the accompanying Collaborative Engagements Overview were originally launched in April 2022. The guide contains a wealth of information for financial institutions on how to engage with companies on biodiversity topics. Annex 3 to the guide, the Collaborative Engagements Overview, provides a comprehensive overview of ongoing and past biodiversity related collaborative engagements, including both collective engagements and joint investor letters.
Update of the Overview
The status of all engagements were reviewed, and no new initiatives were identified by members. The Collaborative Engagements Overview includes information about 46 collective engagements and joint investor letters, of which 19 are currently ongoing.
The overview points financial institutions to ongoing engagements that they can join and directs them to information generated by past collaborative engagements.
Corporate engagement
Engaging with companies on biodiversity is one of the ways in which financial institutions can act to reverse nature loss. It is one of the five commitments in the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, and it has a dedicated working group under the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation. Given that the biodiversity footprint of financial institutions is largely caused by the companies they invest in, corporate engagement is key for reversing nature loss. It is encouraging to see that financial institutions are taking up this task collectively by developing new collaborative engagements on biodiversity.
Fostering Action for Biodiversity through Responsible Investment in Clothing (FABRIC)
FABRIC is an investor-led collaborative engagement initiative designed to address the environmental impact of the textile industry, with a particular focus on apparel retailers. Through the initiative, made possible with the support of the Laudes Foundation, the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation aims to coordinate stewardship actions that promote responsible practices towards nature and align the industry with global biodiversity targets.