Member AUM
$75 trillion
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Biodiversity

Food systems don't just depend on biodiversity, they are part of it
Aquaculture
Deforestation
Waste & Pollution
Regenerative Agriculture

Biodiversity Overview

The variability of life on Earth is encompassed in the concept of biodiversity. It represents nature’s capacity to provide the ecosystem services on which humans, other species, societies and economies rely on. Without biodiversity or biological diversity, life and economic activities as we know them simply could not exist. Biodiversity loss is, therefore a material financial risk. The need to urgently preserve and protect terrestrial, inland water, marine and coastal ecosystems was globally recognised in December 2022 with the launch of the Global Framework on Biodiversity (GFB). The framework has established a baseline for international action through to 2030 and will ultimately require a systemic shift in agricultural production.

This has also been highlighted by financial and corporate standards such as Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), calling for organisations to manage and report biodiversity-related risks and set effective targets to prevent biodiversity loss.

As a result, FAIRR’s efforts seek to address the key drivers of biodiversity loss, its associated risks, and opportunities through sector analysis and company engagement. The meat and dairy sector’s impact on biodiversity loss are cause by the five principal drivers identified by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). They are as follows:

  • Land/sea-use change

  • Direct exploitation of natural resources

  • Climate change

  • Pollution

  • Invasive alien species

FAIRR’s biodiversity thematic work aims to support investors understand the biodiversity footprinting tools available to them, and tackle the risks identified through collaborative engagements on waste and pollution, aquaculture feed, and seafood traceability.

biodiversity-diagram

Latest Activity

Research
Report Launch: Seafood Traceability Phase 1 Report
Research
Report Launch: Waste and Pollution Phase 2 Report
Research
Report Launch: Corporate Biodiversity Footprints
Research
Report: Regenerative Agriculture
Engagement
Engagement: Seafood Traceability
Engagement
Engagement: Waste & Pollution
Event
Biodiversity Webinar recording is now available
Research

Report Launch: Seafood Traceability Phase 1 Report

The Seafood Traceability Phase 1 Progress Report highlights the need for full-chain, digital and interoperable traceability in today’s complex and global supply chains. In the first year of this engagement, delivered in partnership with WWF US, Planet Tracker, the World Benchmarking Alliance and UNEP FI, we have assessed seven of the largest seafood producers on their traceability efforts.

View Report
Research

Report Launch: Waste and Pollution Phase 2 Report

Explore the latest report, which focuses on the progress made by companies in the second phase of this engagement, as well as areas where there remain significant gaps with leading practices.

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Research

Report Launch: Corporate Biodiversity Footprints

It is well established that agriculture is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss through land use change, direct exploitation, pollution, climate change, and invasive alien species, but it can be difficult for investors to navigate the data and tools that are emerging to identify priority areas for action. FAIRR partnered with Iceberg Data Lab to explore corporate biodiversity footprinting and how it can be used with the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index to derive insights and prioritise stewardship initiatives with three case studies covering six global companies.

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Research

Report: Regenerative Agriculture

FAIRR’s thematic report on regenerative agriculture and the role of the investor is to assess the growing number of regenerative agriculture commitments across 79 publicly listed agri-food companies to understand whether these are meaningful enough to deliver climate and nature goals. Regenerative agriculture has gained considerable traction within the agri-food sector as a way of reducing the environmental and social harm associated with conventional production practices. Although there is no universally accepted definition, the practices associated with regenerative agriculture focus on positive environmental and social outcomes.

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Engagement

Engagement: Seafood Traceability

To ensure that emerging seafood traceability commitments and systems are aligned with the best practice, the FAIRR Initiative, with support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), UNEP FI’s Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative, the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), and Planet Tracker are bringing key seafood sector investors together to collaboratively engage in constructive dialogues with a core group of seafood companies.

View Seafood Traceability Engagement
Engagement

Engagement: Waste & Pollution

More than three billion tonnes of waste, including manure and urine, are produced by farm animals each year. This vast volume exceeds that of all other types of waste, yet it receives little attention from meat producers and investors. Manure represents a precious store of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer which if too often lost to the environment, creating water and air quality issues that impact biodiversity and local communities alike. 

This engagement asks the largest pork and poultry producers to better assess and disclose the nutrient pollution risks, and put in place circular solutions that capture the value of the nutrients producers in livestock farming and processing facilities.

View Waste & Pollution Engagement
Event

Biodiversity Webinar recording is now available

This webinar explored the key takeaways from the first dialogues of our biodiversity, Waste & Pollution Collaborative Engagement. It also offered members a preview of FAIRR's upcoming work on regenerative agriculture and biodiversity-wide scenario analysis.

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Nature and Biodiversity Workstreams

Regenerative Agriculture

Assessment of commitments on regenerative agriculture by 79 food-sector companies.

Project-Regen-ag

Seafood Traceability Engagement

Full-chain traceability is key to addressing ESG risks and unlocking opportunities in global seafood supply chains

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Project-Seafood Traceability

Waste & Pollution Engagement

Mismanagement of Manure Drives Pollution and Biodiversity Risk

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Project-Waste & pollution

Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement

Climate and Biodiversity Risk in the Farmed Salmon Industry

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Project-Sustainable Aquaculture

Latest Downloads

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Description
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Content Type
Waste & Pollution Phase 3 | Meet the Expert Webinar
Waste & Pollution Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Bakkafrost Meeting Notes
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Salmones Camanchaca Meeting Notes
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Leroy Seafood Meeting Notes
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Grieg Seafood Meeting Notes
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Marubeni Corporation Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Mitsubishi Corporation Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Nomad Foods Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Maruha Nichiro Corporation Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Nissui Corporation Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Charoen Pokphand Foods Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 1 | Thai Union Group Assessment
Seafood Traceability Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Bakkafrost Company Response
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Grieg Seafood Company Response
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity
Phase 3 | Multi X Company Response
Sustainable Aquaculture Engagement
Biodiversity