The Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF) was
initiated by ASN Bank at the end of 2019 and established together with
ACTIAM, Triple Jump, Triodos, Robeco and FMO. The PBAF initiative is
walking in the footsteps of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
(PCAF), initiated by ASN Bank a few years earlier, an initiative which
has now grown into a worldwide initiative.
PBAF is starting in a time of growing awareness among financial institutions that impacts and dependencies on biodiversity play an important role, both from a risk and from an opportunity perspective.
Economic
sectors invested in impact on biodiversity and depend on the ecosystem
services nature provides. These services are increasingly at risk as a
result of the loss of biodiversity.
Through their investments, financial institutions can play an important role in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, contributing not only to the biodiversity targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD ), but also to the reduction of investment risks.
The Partnership for Biodiversity Accounting Financials (PBAF) is a partnership of financial institutions
that work together to explore the opportunities and challenges surrounding the assessment
and disclosure of the impact on biodiversity associated with their loans and investments.
Through discussions, the exchange of experiences and case studies, the PBAF partners cooperate
in the development of a set of harmonized principles underlying biodiversity impact assessment.
Such principles are not reserved to one specific impact assessment methodology and may offer a valuable starting point for both qualitative and quantitative biodiversity impact assessments or biodiversity ‘footprints’. By means of these principles, PBAF wants to contribute to the development of a harmonised biodiversity accounting approach in the financial sector.
