Greenbank sets new nature targets

Healthy societies, resilient economies and thriving businesses all rely on nature and its biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth which includes plants, animals, and microorganisms. The natural environment plays a key role in our economy through the many ecosystem services it provides such as water supply, pollination and climate regulation. 

However, we are currently experiencing a rapid decline in nature, with climate change, land use change and pollution all contributing. Worldwide, more than 46,000 species are threatened with extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. That includes, for example, 26% of mammals, 41% of amphibians and 44% of reef corals – and the trend is getting worse for all three.  

As investors, we have a key role to play in addressing nature loss as the companies we invest in both depend on and impact nature in a variety of ways, both positive and negative. 

Our targets

Today, Greenbank sets three nature targets as we work to further understand how we can contribute to the global effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

Greenbank aims to achieve the following three targets by 31 December 2025:

1. Governance: Disclose a governance and oversight structure for nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. 
2. Assessment: Conduct and publicly disclose an assessment of nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities for in-scope investments.
3. Training: Provide training on the relationship between nature loss and investment and Greenbank’s nature targets for all relevant employees. 

These targets build on our existing work to understand and manage the impact of our investments on nature, in addition to the nature-related risks our portfolios may be exposed to. By setting these targets, we will be able to better understand how our portfolios and investee companies interact with nature and then take steps to reduce and mitigate any nature-related risks via our engagement and investment decisions. 

By setting these targets, we will be able to better understand how our portfolios and investee companies interact with nature and then take steps to reduce and mitigate any nature-related risks via our engagement and investment decisions. 

The Finance for Biodiversity framework

The Finance for Biodiversity target setting framework assists investors in addressing significant nature-related systemic risks to portfolios and aligns with our commitment to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Finance for Biodiversity pledge, which Greenbank has been a signatory to since 2020. The Global Biodiversity Framework includes specific commitments for aligning public and private financial flows with the 2030 goal to halt and reverse nature loss and to assess and disclose impacts on biodiversity, with a view to progressively reducing negative impacts. 

The framework was developed in alignment with key initiatives on nature, including the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, Science Based Targets Network, and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, among others. They are the first stage in a longer-term set of commitments we will work towards under the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation’s Nature Target Setting Framework, with the outputs and learnings from this stage enabling us to select and monitor key performance indicators to understand our key nature-related impacts.

These targets represent a significant next step in our ongoing commitment to protect and restore biodiversity through our finance activities.

Sophie Lawrence, stewardship and engagement lead at Greenbank says: 

“These targets represent a significant next step in our ongoing commitment to protect and restore biodiversity through our finance activities. As an active member of the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation’s target setting working group, we actively contributed to the development of the framework and believe it can be a powerful tool for investors to set meaningful targets which achieve real-world impact at a time when action is urgently needed. 

Nature-related risks such as water scarcity, biodiversity loss and deforestation can have significant financial implications for companies and investment portfolios as well as negative impacts on wider society. 

Nature continues to be one of our priority engagement topics for 2025 with a focus on encouraging companies to reduce or reverse their negative impacts on nature, as well as demonstrating there is strong private sector support for long-term policy that creates the right enabling environment for companies to act. The impact assessment will allow us to focus our engagement on companies where intervention can have the greatest impact and have a more tailored and focused discussion with companies.”

Rathbones plc is aiming to publish its climate and nature statement in the coming weeks. The statement will outline our approach to the interconnected issues of climate and nature across the Group.