Bloomberg has launched its latest Bloomberg Terminal tool designed to offer investors a comprehensive assessment of nature-related impacts and dependencies across a company and its value chain, for up to 45,000 companies.
The offering is powered by a broad set of company-reported Bloomberg data with full transparency to source, and features biodiversity indicators underpinned by the Natural History Museum’s Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII), water stress analysis using World Resources Institute data and deforestation risk analysis, as well as detailed insights on actions companies are taking to reduce nature loss.
Additionally, Bloomberg’s ESG financial materiality scores now factor in biodiversity and natural capital data reported by companies, for sectors where this is relevant.
The BII is a science-based metric which maps the world’s landmass and provides an estimated percentage of the natural biodiversity still present in any given area, using data on over 60,000 unique species in combination with measures of human pressures on nature and statistical modelling approaches.
According to analysis from research provider BloombergNEF, almost $1trn of annual financing will be needed by 2030 to sustainably manage biodiversity and maintain the integrity of ecosystems. This pales in comparison to the anticipated economic cost of biodiversity loss, which the World Bank estimates could result in a decline in global GDP of $2.7trn annually by 2030.
Insights provided by the tool include the percentage of company revenue in high nature-risk sectors; involvement in commodities associated with deforestation; the percentage of assets in pristine areas; exposure to areas with water stress; and management of nature-related risks such as governance and policies, sustainable sourcing of natural commodities, as well as pollution, waste and water management practices.
Christian O’Dwyer, nature solutions product manager at Bloomberg, said: “The dependency of societies and economies on nature is widely recognised, but evaluating the nature-related risks of companies is complex and can not be reduced to a single metric.
“With Bloomberg’s new offering, users get a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of a company’s dependency and impact on nature, which can be integrated into decision-making through both Bloomberg Terminal and Enterprise Data Solutions. By collaborating with the Natural History Museum, we’re able to provide science-based biodiversity metrics that better reflect the broader ecological context in areas where companies operate than other indicators.”
