FLINTpro Targets Biodiversity Impact and Dependency
Ahead of COP16 and EUDR deadline, update to RegIQ platform aims to support alignment with TNFD and CSRD.
Nature analytics provider FLINTpro has continued to build out its capabilities for investors with the addition of a Global Biodiversity Module, the final component of its RegIQ product launched in June.
The new module provides users with analysis of the potential impacts of human and industrial activities on nature, as well as the risks associated with dependencies on ecosystem services from biodiverse landscapes. The RegIQ tool’s other two modules focus on deforestation and land use emissions.
The new module – which was designed to align with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) LEAP approach and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – comprises two key scores that offer insights into companies’ biodiversity risk and relationship with nature.
The impact potential score evaluates the potential for firms’ activities to impact biodiversity by evaluating species richness, the presence of endangered species, human land use, and the significance of biologically important areas. The dependency risk score measures how their activities depend on biodiversity, focusing on water availability and the presence of invasive species.
Combined, the scores look to provide an overview of biodiversity health and the risk of future impacts.
“We’ve launched our biodiversity module to make the process of reporting biodiversity easier for companies,” Rob Waterworth, Co-founder and Chief Science and Innovation Officer at FLINTpro, told ESG Investor.
“This is a complex topic, and navigating the myriad regulations and reporting requirements is often the hardest part. The new module makes it easier to start reporting against the TNFD, then as companies’ needs expand, we can support them with more detailed analysis.”
Last month, research from the World Benchmarking Alliance showed that major global companies were failing to assess and measure their impact on nature. The TNFD published its final recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure, in September 2023. Per its last update in June, the TNFD has 416 adopters of its voluntary recommendations. The organisation plans to announce the next cohort of adopters at COP16.
Heightened industry interest
Founded in 2014, FLINTpro is a nature analytics company for landowners, investors, and suppliers which specialises in providing data and analytics on land use, deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity.
The RegIQ tool is an evolution of FLINTpro’s services that aims to help clients to produce and validate reporting with transparent methodologies and risk ratings, addressing current and upcoming regulations, such as the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), as well as voluntary commitments.
RegIQ functions as an aggregation platform, with FLINTpro compiling multiple streams of data on land use into a single interface backed by the firm’s modelling framework. Clients are also able to add their own data to augment or personalise the tool’s analysis.
According to Tina Morris, CEO of FLINTpro, the offering is differentiated from other tools on the market by its breadth and capability, the “decision-useful” insights it offers, and the transparency of the technology, ensuring it is not a “black box”.
“There is a huge amount of interest right now in understanding nature and biodiversity, and biodiversity is definitely one of our more common conversations,” she added.
Waterworth said FLINTpro would keep adding greater functionality to guide clients “from reporting through to action”.
Fourth quarter action
The update to the RegIQ tool arrives ahead of a number of expected policy and regulatory developments impacting efforts to protect and conserve biodiversity.
Initially approved in 2022, EUDR, the EU legislation banning companies operating in the bloc from trading commodities associated with deforestation and forest degradation – such as soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, rubber – is due to come into effect from 30 December.
However, some have called for the rules to be delayed, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and World Trade Organization Director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala adding to these calls last week.
Despite the possibility a postponement, there is a strong appetite for transparency along supply chains, according to Morris. “We know firsthand from investors that they’re very concerned about whether they have companies in their portfolio which have deforestation exposure that could cause them to incur penalties under the EUDR.”
The importance of conserving biodiversity was recently underscored by Susana Muhamad, the president of the UN biodiversity COP16 summit in Cali, Columbia, which will start on 21 October. She said solely reducing carbon emissions while not restoring and protecting natural ecosystems would risk societal collapse and that action in tandem on climate and nature is required to make meaningful progress. COP15 saw almost 200 countries pledge to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Earlier this week, 534 investors signed a letter which called on governments to implement “ambitious” national biodiversity strategies and action plans that support the targets relating to nature, water and biodiversity-related challenges in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework.
“Biodiversity reporting requirements are coming, and sooner rather than later,” said Waterworth. “Many asset owners are being asked by end-investors about the impact of their activities on biodiversity, and to date this has been hard to answer.
“For institutional investors, we are also expecting investment opportunities to be linked with nature-related risks like biodiversity loss,” he added.
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