Measuring nature with the Robeco Biodiversity Traffic Light

Important information

The Robeco Capital Growth Funds have not been registered under the United States Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, nor or the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended. None of the shares may be offered or sold, directly or indirectly in the United States or to any U.S. Person (within the meaning of Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”)). Furthermore, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. (Robeco) does not provide investment advisory services, or hold itself out as providing investment advisory services, in the United States or to any U.S. Person (within the meaning of Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act).

This website is intended for use only by non-U.S. Persons outside of the United States (within the meaning of Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act who are professional investors, or professional fiduciaries representing such non-U.S. Person investors. By clicking “I Agree” on our website disclaimer and accessing the information on this website, including any subdomain thereof, you are certifying and agreeing to the following: (i) you have read, understood and agree to this disclaimer, (ii) you have informed yourself of any applicable legal restrictions and represent that by accessing the information contained on this website, you are not in violation of, and will not be causing Robeco or any of its affiliated entities or issuers to violate, any applicable laws and, as a result, you are legally authorized to access such information on behalf of yourself and any underlying investment advisory client, (iii) you understand and acknowledge that certain information presented herein relates to securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act, and may be offered or sold only outside the United States and only to, or for the account or benefit of, non-U.S. Persons (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act), (iv) you are, or are a discretionary investment adviser representing, a non-U.S. Person (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act) located outside of the United States and (v) you are, or are a discretionary investment adviser representing, a professional non-retail investor. Access to this website has been limited so that it shall not constitute directed selling efforts (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) in the United States and so that it shall not be deemed to constitute Robeco holding itself out generally to the public in the U.S. as an investment adviser. Nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell securities or solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities in any jurisdiction. We reserve the right to deny access to any visitor, including, but not limited to, those visitors with IP addresses residing in the United States.

This website has been carefully prepared by Robeco. The information contained in this publication is based upon sources of information believed to be reliable. Robeco is not answerable for the accuracy or completeness of the facts, opinions, expectations and results referred to therein. Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this website, we do not accept any responsibility for damage of any kind resulting from incorrect or incomplete information. This website is subject to change without notice. The value of the investments may fluctuate. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If the currency in which the past performance is displayed differs from the currency of the country in which you reside, then you should be aware that due to exchange rate fluctuations the performance shown may increase or decrease if converted into your local currency. For investment professional use only. Not for use by the general public.

Investors realize that nature loss represents systemic risks for investment portfolios but find it difficult to measure and mitigate. That is the main message from our conversations with asset owners in the past year, including a roundtable held with five investors and the World Wide Fund for Nature – Netherlands.

Download the white paper here

To make nature more tangible for portfolios, Robeco is proud to launch the Biodiversity Traffic Light, which identifies leaders and laggards across the investment universe, and enables investors to incorporate these insights into strategies and active ownership.

The traffic light allows investors to tilt portfolios toward companies that could be better prepared for the biodiversity transition and away from those that are lagging behind. Our new white paper, ‘Measuring nature in investments: Unlocking opportunities to invest in the transition’, explains how it all works.

The white paper include the comments of investors in the roundtable, which have helped shape the response to an issue that has vexed investors for many years. Investors mention two challenges in particular:

How to measure and monitor nature risks and impacts in portfolios?
How to invest in core portfolios in public markets that goes beyond asset classes such as farming and forestry?

While these challenges remain, at the same time significant progress has been made in the past year in making nature more tangible. Last July, the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) released detailed sector guides defining the key impacts and metrics per industry group. This helped to create agreement on which of the many aspects of nature loss investors should focus on within each industry.

On the back of this, data providers released improved datasets, often developed in collaboration with nature organizations. Based on these developments, Robeco was able to develop the Biodiversity Traffic Light and use it for our own investments, led by the Biodiversity Equities strategy.

In this paper, we present our approach to biodiversity and the tools that we offer to clients for the integration of biodiversity in investments. The paper starts with an overview of the state of nature loss and the global policy response. In the second chapter, we discuss the role of investors based on the comments from the participants in the roundtable.

Download the white paper here