There are growing concerns over the world’s biodiversity after new research warned of the creeping movement of oil and gas projects towards some of the world’s most valuable environmental habitats.

ESG data science firm RepRisk and the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance have collaborated to create a series of biodiversity insights via the new  RepRisk Geospatial Analytics, which launched yesterday.

It is an extension of RepRisk’s flagship product, the RepRisk ESG Risk Platform, the firm said  Geospatial Analytics facilitates robust biodiversity risk assessment for market practitioners and solves common pitfalls around quality and availability of both biodiversity and proximity data.

A preliminary analysis of RepRisk Geospatial Analytics reveals that:

• Approximately 32% of natural and mixed UNESCO World Heritage sites are currently within 1km of an extractive project.
• 52% (470 out of 900) of Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites, which are home to the last of some of the world’s most threatened species, are within 10km of an extractive project.
• Approximately 8,400 or 81% of Oil and Gas pipelines worldwide are within 10 km of at least one environmentally sensitive site.

The biodiversity due diligence data showed the proximity of over 60,000 mining and oil and gas projects to in excess of 270,000 protected areas and 16,000 Key Biodiversity Areas.

The company said the data provides a range of insights for market practitioners which are already increasingly asking questions such as, “does my client operate any pipelines near protected areas?” or “does the mine in my portfolio overlap with areas of high biodiversity value?”

“RepRisk Geospatial Analytics is ground-breaking for investors. It is essential to understand where companies own and operate assets before it is possible to understand the potential biodiversity related risk of an investment.” said Edward Ellis, business manager at IBAT Alliance. “RepRisk links assets on the ground to owner and operator companies, enabling investors to better understand aspects of their nature-related risk. When combined with the existing risk information in RepRisk’s ESG Risk Platform, investors are able to analyse biodiversity in the Environmental pillar of ESG in an even more multi-dimensional way.”

RepRisk Geospatial has been launched alongside the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)’s progress on a biodiversity risk management and reporting framework, to be adopted by financial institutions and corporates.

“The TNFD has made it clear: geospatial data is essential for reporting on corporate biodiversity risk and moving toward a nature-positive economy,” says Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing at RepRisk. “RepRisk Geospatial Analytics not only brings clients in step with emerging frameworks like TNFD but empowers them with the most cutting-edge technology and the world’s most comprehensive ESG dataset. Nature doesn’t disclose anything, and ultimately biodiversity risk and financial risk are one and the same. It’s time for financial markets to integrate biodiversity risk considerations into their decision-making processes.”

The company added future applications for RepRisk Geospatial Analytics include proximity data on projects beyond the extractive sector and data on emissions and deforestation.

52% (470 out of 900) of Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites, which are home to the last of some of the world’s most threatened species, are within 10km of an extractive project.