UK pension provider Scottish Widows has called on the UK government and regulators to create policy to support the mobilisation of capital into nature from the finance sector, in a new report titled ‘Nature and Biodiversity: The Pensions Imperative’. The report, which outlines recommendations on how to encourage private capital into protecting and restoring nature and biodiversity, also calls on pension funds to consider the systemic risk of biodiversity loss and adopt the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework. It also calls for the regulation of the voluntary carbon markets in the UK, to drive high-quality standards and help address the nature financing gap. Maria Nazarova-Doyle, Head of Responsible Investments and Stewardship at Scottish Widows, said: “As we mark two years since the publication of The Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, the financial services industry has yet to make ample progress on nature action. In order for nature-positive pension investments to materialise, pioneers and policymakers must band together, doing more to engage and educate the industry on how to positively reshape portfolios and avert ecological collapse. This isn’t simply a balance-sheet issue – it’s an existential one too.”
