Sustainable Investment Awards 2021

ESG investment initiative of the year: Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials

The Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF) was formed in 2019 by founding partners ASN Bank, ACTIAM, FMO, Robeco, Triodos Bank and Triple Jump. In 2021,19 more financial institutions joined the partnership and today, the total participant assets under management amount to $6.2 trillion.

The partnership seeks to create a global standard for biodiversity impact assessment and disclosure for financial institutions. In 2020, the knowledge platform presented its first Common Ground Report during a United Nations event, describing the common metrics for measuring positive and negative impacts of investments on biodiversity.

Roel NozemanRoel Nozeman, senior advisor biodiversity at ASN Bank and initiator of PBAF, commented: "A growing number of banks, insurance companies and pension funds realise that loss of biodiversity poses a major threat both to society and to the economy and that we need action now. In the last year, PBAF has experienced amazing growth in partners and supporters. This award is a wonderful acknowledgment of our collective efforts."

The next step for the PBAF will be to develop and present a new report describing the partners' common metrics in 2021. To achieve this, the partners will team up in several working groups to address relevant issues, such as the biodiversity impact of investments in the agricultural sector, impact and dependencies for asset managers, and a working group focused on positive impact.

The 19 institutions to have joined the partnership since its launch are ABN AMRO Bank, APG, Achmea Investment Management, a.s.r. vermogensbeheer, French development bank AFD, BNP Paribas, de Volksbank, Finance in Motion, FirstRand Group, NN Investment Partners, NWB Bank, Piraeus Financial Holdings, PGGM, Pymwymic, Rabobank, Rathbone Greenbank Investments, Sycomore Asset Management, UFF African Agri Investments and Van Lanschot Kempen.