Finance for Biodiversity Foundation partner in new project of Stockholm Resilience Center to boost efforts towards a greener economy
Centre to lead € 4.8 million consortium helping finance sector curb biodiversity loss and protect nature
Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) will host a new multi-partner research programme that will help the global financial sector develop strategies to protect nature and halt current biodiversity loss.
The overall aim of Mistra Biodiversity Finance Program (BIOFIN) is to facilitate real change by providing cutting-edge transdisciplinary research to develop the capacity of the financial sector to contribute significantly and meaningfully to a nature positive economy.
The four-year programme will break new ground because it consists of researchers that rarely interact, ranging from computational biology to trade economics and philosophy. It builds on considerable research already conducted by the SRC and its partners and will capitalise on other Mistra programmes such as Mistra Food Futures and Fairtrans.
Garry Peterson, professor at the SRC, is the programme director. He says: “Creating a sustainable world requires transformative change and finance is a key part of that change. We will work to ensure that the mainstream of finance better addresses the complexity of the biosphere, while also exploring alternative ways of connecting finance and the living world.”
Impact partners to accelerate change
The ambitious programme will partner with selected companies and financial sector actors. These partners have been selected because of their track record of innovative thinking and experimenting with new approaches to finance.
Amid a growing recognition within the finance sector that biodiversity loss has a dramatic impact on the global economy, BIOFIN will thus help accelerate efforts to integrate consideration of biodiversity and climate resilience into financial decision-making.
“This unique collaboration will help us identify financial risks stemming from biodiversity loss and contribute to finding solutions. This, we believe, should ultimately help the financial sector make positive changes for the biosphere,” said Laurent Ramsey, Managing Partner of Pictet Group, one of the Impact partners. Pictet will also contribute with additional funding to the programme.
Beatrice Crona, professor at the SRC and a senior scientific advisor to the programme adds: “The financial system is a major force in undermining biosphere resilience, but it also has the potential to promote and restore nature. Different financial actors have different roles to play in the transformation to nature positive future, and we will develop a range of tools and strategies that will help them realize their potential.”
Consortium partners:
- Stockholm Resilience Centre (programme host)
- Swedish Environmental Research Institute
- University of Gothenburg
- The UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment
- Museum of Natural History, Stockholm
Impact partners:
- Pictet Asset Mangement: Corporate bank spanning from equity and fixed income to sovereign wealth.
- Finance for Biodiversity Foundation: Non-profit organization, convener of financial institutions pledging for biodiversity protection and restoration.
- Principles for Responsible Investment: Convener and platform for an international network of investor signatories, supported by the UN.
- Swedish Investors for Sustainable Investment: Coalition comprising 21 of the largest Swedish institutional investors, convened under SIDA.
- 2050 Venture Capital Fund: A progressive and innovative venture capital fund initiated with the vision of funding sustainable and transformative businesses.
- Sustainable Finance Lab: A transdisciplinary research and competence building hub, comprised of representatives from six Swedish research institutions.
- Natural Capital Project, Stanford University: A partnership of leading academic institutions and environmental NGOs, in which SRC is a core partner.