Report providing an overview of the companies and sectors with the most negative impact on biodiversity. Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and Globalbalance conducted the pilot study and wrote the report.

Report providing an overview of the companies and sectors with the most negative impact on biodiversity. Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and Globalbalance conducted the pilot study and wrote the report. 

Context

The Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, in collaboration with Globalbalance, conducted a pilot study to identify which companies and sectors have the greatest negative impact on biodiversity. The results show that companies in the food, beverage, and tobacco industries have the greatest negative impact, followed by the materials sector. Furthermore, a small number of companies are responsible for a large part of the biodiversity footprint. Of the 1,564 companies in the MSCI World Index, the 250 companies with the highest footprint are responsible for more than 70% of the index's total negative impact.

Approach and activities

Four methods for measuring biodiversity were used for the pilot. The pilot used potential impact rather than actual impact due to the lack of company data. Previous work by Nature Action 100 (NA100) was used, and the pilot was funded by Accountability Accelerator. The pilot was supported by advice from Arcadis and the Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF).