Sustainable finance

London museum provides financial industry with biodiversity data

The data provider Bloomberg and the Natural History Museum in London aim to link data on species diversity with the business activities of companies and make that accessible to the financial industry.
Frankfurt, December 14, 2023, 10:28 Uhr
Wolf Brandes
Ammonites, as seen in a fossilized form in the Natural History Museum in London, became extinct alongside dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago. The ongoing, human-induced mass extinction on Earth is being summarized for investors by the museum in collaboration with Bloomberg.
Ammonites, as seen in a fossilized form in the Natural History Museum in London, became extinct alongside dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago. The ongoing, human-induced mass extinction on Earth is being summarized for investors by the museum in collaboration with Bloomberg.
Source: Natural History Museum, Great Britain

London museum provides financial industry with biodiversity data

During the UN Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai, discussions will also focus on nature, land use, and oceans. In this context, Bloomberg and the Natural History Museum in London have announced plans to provide investors with access to the museum's biodiversity data, enabling them to better evaluate their investments.

As part of this collaboration, efforts are underway to develop a solution with the goal to combine the data from the Natural History Museum with Bloomberg's financial database, encompassing nearly 50,000 global companies.

Making nature-positive decisions

This enables investors and companies to identify the risks and extent of impact caused by endangered ecosystems. They can then integrate this information into their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) will assist in making nature-positive investment decisions.

"This is made possible by combining the museum's geographical and spatial data, which we link with data on physical assets," states Nadia Humphreys, Manager for Regulatory and Climate Solutions at Bloomberg.

From 0 to 100 percent

The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) aims to simplify the complex field of biodiversity data and provide an assessment of ecosystems. It categorizes nature on a scale from 100% (biodiversity is intact) to 0% (none of the species remaining at the location occurred there naturally).

The combination of field data, satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, and algorithms has resulted in a database that includes over five million observations from more than 100 countries and 50,000 locations, containing data on over 58,000 species.

This will improve the prospects for impact investment strategies.

Nadia Humphreys, Bloomberg

According to Bloomberg, nature contributes trillions of dollars to the global economy each year, with more than half of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) moderately to heavily dependent on nature and ecosystems. Financial institutions have long been seeking datasets to mitigate financial risks associated with interventions in nature for their portfolios.

Combining this information with supply chain data allows investors to verify the sustainability of sourcing raw materials. "This will help investors understand the complex linkages between biodiversity and their investments and enhance the prospects for impact investment strategies," says Humphreys.