BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) and CDP, an NGO, are partnering to accelerate the development of biodiversity measurement indicators.
The idea for BNPP AM to support CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) in its process of creating a standard framework for reporting companies on biodiversity will accelerate nature conservation action in the private sector, the outfits argued.
The observation made by the two partners is clear: although it is of crucial importance for human health, economies and livelihoods, global biodiversity is declining faster today than during any other period in history. More than 31,000 species, or 27% of all species recorded, are threatened with extinction, “underlining the absolute need to integrate issues relating to biodiversity into decision-making, in all sectors”.
By Angeli Mehta2021-05-04T08:58:00+01:00
With clean water supplies increasingly scarce, Angeli Mehta looks at what industry is doing to reduce its demands
Fresh water is in parlous state. Droughts in South Africa and in Europe in 2018 were a wake-up call to industry. In Cape Town, the city came close to ‘day zero’ with the prospect of taps running dry. ‘We knew it was going to happen, but
the
fact that it came very quickly and dramatically was unexpected,’ says Kevin Winter, at the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town. ‘It caused the public to talk about water like they’ve never done before.’ In Europe, major navigation routes on the Rhine were almost impassable, ships carrying chemicals ran aground and water extraction for cooling was restricted. BASF, Evonik, Solvay and Shell Chemical all had to cut production, and the Germany economy took a hit.
Some $301bn of business value is at risk because of water stewardship challenges, yet it would take corporates just $55bn to deliver appropriate mitigation and adaptation initiatives.