Dutch pension asset manager APG has, together with 14 other investors, joined the Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF).
The initiative, which was set up in 2018 by a number of Dutch asset managers and banks including ASN Bank and Robeco, aims to encourage financial institutions to measure their impact on biodiversity, report on this in a transparent way and set targets to improve their ecological footprint.
APG is the first pension investor to join PBAF, which now counts 21 members with a total of $5.8trn (€4.9trn) in assets under management. Most of these are Dutch, but a few foreign investors including BNP Paribas also recently joined the initiative.
The institutions that have signed up to PBAF are “showing their commitment to actively pursuing a shared methodology for measuring and reporting the impact of their loans and investments on biodiversity,” said Roel Nozeman, senior advisor biodiversity at ASN Bank and chair of the partnership.
“This allows financial institutions to calculate their biodiversity footprint and take targeted action to restore and protect biodiversity.”
APG said its decision to join PBAF will have no impact on the firm’s investment policy. “Biodiversity already is an important theme within our organisation and has been integrated in our investment policy,” a spokesperson commented.
However, the pension asset manager acknowledged biodiversity is an “umbrella term” that requires a more specified definition.
“We note a growing interest in this theme with our stakeholders,” the spokesperson said. “So the main motivation for us joining PBAF is to exchange views with other financial institutions in order to standardise the way we measure impact on biodiversity.”
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