Mitigating biodiversity loss guides our operation

Biodiversity is a requirement for a happy, healthy life. Biodiversity loss contributes to major risks to the economy and companies’ business.

In December 2022, world leaders attended the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada, to decide on new international goals and metrics to protect biodiversity. Varma is committed to common agreements to end biodiversity loss and put nature back on a path to recovery by 2030.

In its Biodiversity Roadmap, Varma outlines policies that can help prevent biodiversity loss. We have looked into the biodiversity loss-related risks to our investments. The objective is to make attending to biodiversity an integral part of the investment decision process.

Varma’s biodiversity efforts in numbers

77%

The biodiversity survey makes up 77 per cent of the Varma’s entire investment portfolio. In the survey, Varma has assessed the biggest biodiversity risks related to its investments. The survey looked into these risks through the impacts and dependencies of biodiversity loss.

10%

Of the companies in Varma’s investment portfolio, 10 per cent operate in sectors that are classified as risky due to biodiversity loss. We have classified electricity generation, oil and gas, the extractive industry, forest industry, automotive industry, construction industry, transport industry, food industry and chemical industry as sectors of this kind.

51%

Just over half of the companies (51 per cent) operating in risky sectors have expressed their intent to take action for considering biodiversity or compensating biodiversity loss. This came out in a survey in which we looked at companies’ biodiversity policies based on publicly available information.

We engage in investors’ global joint initiatives

Varma actively engages in international investor initiatives, one example of which is the financial institutions’ Finance for Biodiversity pledge.

Varma takes part in the Nature Action 100 co-operation initiative, which is focused on driving greater corporate ambition and action to reverse nature and biodiversity loss.