Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) has launched the Nature Investor Toolkit – a primer for understanding nature-related risks and opportunities and supporting investors to assess, engage and take action. Supported by ISS ESG, the sustainable investment arm of index provider ISS STOXX, and specialist climate change investment and advisory firm Pollination, the toolkit aims to respond to the “fast-evolving” nature of nature investing and its growing suite of available solutions – highlighting key concepts and directing the user to market-leading industry resources. Its objectives are three-fold: helping investors identify nature-related risks and opportunities in their portfolios (‘assess’); simplifying a complex area by informing constructive conversations with stakeholders and companies about impacts and dependencies on nature (‘engage’); and unpacking current and emerging tools and products to identify new investment opportunities (‘take action’). “It is estimated by the World Economic Forum that approximately US$44 trillion of economic value is ‘moderately’ or ‘highly’ dependent on nature,” Rachel Alembakis, Stewardship Manager at Australian investment manager U Ethical Investors, commented in a LinkedIn post. “The toolkit is a handy source document to help educate investors on how to uncover and analyse nature-related risks and opportunities as well as prepare [them] to hold conversation with portfolio companies about how they impact nature in their operations and products and services.” The toolkit was prepared by RIAA’s Nature Working Group – a collective of representatives from the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand investment community. RIAA’ 550+ members include asset managers, asset owners, trusts, consultants, impact investors, financial advisers, research and data providers, and other responsible investment ecosystem representatives. Its membership accounts for 75% of managed funds in Australia, and 73% of managed funds in New Zealand.
