The Sustainable Markets Initiative and infrastructure consulting firm AECOM have launched an AI tool designed to protect nature during infrastructure project developments. The Nature Risk Tool analyses pieces of land globally, providing detailed insights into habitats and biomes to help planners and policymakers create sustainable infrastructure that safeguards the environment. Over the past 50 years, wildlife populations have decreased by an average of 60%, the founders said, with infrastructure development being a significant factor. Using datasets from the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures, the tool will aim to combat habitat loss, biodiversity decline, pollution, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. It will be employed at the project initiation stage to support site selection and feasibility studies, enhance decision-making and efficiency, and minimise impacts on nature and biodiversity. Separately, nature-focused non-profit Restor launched a transparency tool to map nature restoration-focused projects and communities, and facilitate funding allocation. Supported by Manulife Investment Management, the governments of Costa Rica and Ethiopia, and cloud-based software company Salesforce, Restor Enterprise will aim to build trust and transparency in the “nature movement”, showing how and where investments are being made – and contributing to closing an estimated US$700 billion annual nature financing gap outlined by the Global Biodiversity Framework. Restor currently supports more than 200,000 projects of local communities, farmers, and Indigenous populations working to promote nature by connecting them to funders, markets, and to one another. “This tool gives organisations and governments the power to not only showcase their commitment to nature, but also to prove their impact in a way that’s verifiable,” said Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Director of AI and Sustainability at Google, which provides philanthropic support to Restor. “By enabling the transparent flow of funds to those directly stewarding our planet, we’re not just restoring ecosystems, we’re restoring trust.”
