AMSTERDAM – Ahead of the UN’s Biodiversity Conference (COP17), a new brief released today at PRI In-Person 2026 analyzes how more than 800 global institutional investors are acting on nature and biodiversity loss and where policy can unlock more action.
Specifically, the analysis included in the brief, Closing the Gaps in the Global Biodiversity Framework Implementation: Investor Actions and Policy Recommendations, shows:
Investors have a critical role to play in global efforts to achieve biodiversity goals. Escalating nature and biodiversity loss present a material and systemic financial risk. Managing financially material nature-related risks falls within the scope of investors' fiduciary duties.
Investors are stepping up and acting. They are assessing and disclosing nature-related risks, integrating biodiversity into investment policies, engaging the companies they invest in, and advocating for policy reform – all actions in line with their mandates and fiduciary duties. More than 400 institutional investors with $60 trillion in assets under management have engaged over 300 companies to address nature-related risks through various initiatives, while over 160 investors have advocated for enabling policy, including the EU Deforestation Regulation.
Voluntary action alone cannot close the gap. Policy gaps continue to limit the private sector's ability to make progress toward global biodiversity goals, and corporate progress is not moving at the pace the challenge requires. Lack of comparable data, coherent policy, and aligned economic incentives remain the main barriers to progress.
Policy actions are needed to further enable investor contributions. To scale capital, investors need National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans they can rely on, regulatory certainty and coherence across jurisdictions, comparable disclosure data, public finance and subsidies that reward rather than penalize nature-positive activity, and structured dialogues to inform policy design.
With COP17 offering a critical opportunity to align priority actions, the brief also provides policymakers with recommendations on how they can create enabling conditions for investors to boost private capital and help close current implementation gaps in the KMGBF framework.
“Increasing financial flows is essential to reducing nature-related financial risks and supporting the level of capital required to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, while supporting economic and social prosperity,” said Karen Mo, director of nature research and partnerships, food and forests, at Ceres and lead author of the new brief. “With this robust analysis, we hope to show the considerable efforts that investors are taking to contribute to global biodiversity goals and equip policymakers with crucial insights into how they can accelerate their action.”
The brief lays out how investors are working to manage financial risks by integrating nature-related considerations into their strategies and investments using a range of approaches. Across initiatives covered in the analysis, more than 680 institutional investors are deploying at least one of the approaches, which include allocating capital, signaling support for enabling policies, and engaging with the companies in their portfolios.
The analysis was conducted by Ceres in collaboration with Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC), FAIRR Initiative, Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Spring Initiative, Rainforest Foundation Norway, and World Benchmarking Alliance.
Read the full analysis: Closing the Gaps in the Global Biodiversity Framework Implementation: Investor Actions and Policy Recommendations
Additional support:
Abigail Herron, Executive Director at the FAIRR Initiative, said: "Food and agriculture sit at the heart of both the biodiversity crisis and its solutions. Investors recognize the importance of healthy ecosystems for business. Yet investor action alone cannot deliver the scale of change required. COP17 is a critical opportunity for governments to mobilize financial flows towards biodiversity goals by reforming current incentives and subsidies to prevent further nature loss."
Anita de Horde, Co-founding Executive Director of Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, said: "Aligning financial flows with nature is about more than capital allocation. This report shows strong investor mobilization and growing action to address nature-related risks and impacts. At COP17, governments have an opportunity to accelerate progress by prioritizing policies and regulations that strengthen corporate biodiversity disclosure and enable financial institutions to reduce negative impacts on nature through their investment and financing activities.”
Tim Steinweg, Head of Stewardship, Nature, at the PRI, said: “Over 800 actors across the investment community recognise nature loss is a material financial risk and are taking action to halt and reverse it, in line with their mandates and fiduciary duties. Stewardship is an important lever available to investors, and the data in this brief highlights the role of collaborative initiatives and meaningful company engagement. At the same time, gaps in the implementation of the COP17 targets risk impeding the impact of investor action, and this brief presents strong recommendations to close these gaps.”
Lauren Muusse, Finance Engagement Lead at World Benchmarking Alliance, said: “This joint brief matters as much because of the evidence from those who collaborated to produce it, as for what it says. When this many organizations across the investment ecosystem come together around nature policy, we're telling governments and regulators that the signal is aligned and that the opportunity to act on the Global Biodiversity Framework is now.”
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About Ceres
Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and resilient economy. With data-driven research and expert analysis, we inspire investors and companies to act on the world's sustainability challenges and advocate for market and policy solutions. Together, our efforts transform industries, unlock new business opportunities, and foster innovation and job growth – proving that sustainability is the bottom line. For more information, visit ceres.org.
About AIGCC
AIGCC is the leading network of investors in Asia focusing on risks and opportunities in climate and nature. Our 80+ members have a combined AUM of $36 tn and have headquarters in 11 markets across the region. We were founded by institutional investors as a not-for-profit to drive action on climate, and bring an evidence driven, long-term focus on climate, nature, and investment across Asia. Our work is underpinned by science, economics, and an effective theory of change that channels the influence of powerful Asian and international institutional investors, integrated across finance, business and policy making towards systemic impact. We bring deep knowledge and familiarity with Asian markets and dynamics, and play a founding role in global initiatives, making us a trusted force in driving climate-aligned finance across the region and globe.
About FAIRR
The FAIRR Initiative is a global investor network, founded by Jeremy Coller, with a membership representing US$95 trillion in assets under management. FAIRR works with institutional investors to define the material risks and opportunities linked to intensive animal agriculture and provides investor members with the research, tools and engagements necessary to integrate this information into their asset stewardship and investment decisions. Visit www.fairr.org.
About Finance for Biodiversity Foundation
The Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation established in 2021 that unites 200+ global financial institutions as signatories of the FfB Pledge, calling on global leaders to take decisive action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss this decade. Some 90 members of the FfB Foundation are actively engaged in peer learning and collaboration in FfB working groups, building ongoing guidance and frameworks for the financial sector on integrating nature into strategies, investments, and ESG policies. For more information, visit https://www.financeforbiodiversity.org/.
About Spring
Spring is a PRI stewardship initiative for nature, addressing the systemic risks posed by biodiversity loss to protect the long-term interests of investors. Spring seeks to enhance corporate practices, ultimately generating positive, real-world outcomes, while protecting and enhancing investment returns. In doing so, the initiative aims to contribute to the global goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. Spring focuses on tackling forest loss and land degradation in priority geographies, and encouraging responsible practices in corporate political engagement.
About World Benchmarking Alliance
The World Benchmarking Alliance is an independent, non-profit organisation measuring how the 2,000 most influential companies impact people and planet. We do this so that everyone – including governments, financial institutions, civil society organisations and the media – can hold companies accountable for contributing to sustainable development. Visit www.worldbenchmarkingalliance.org.