Nature & Biodiversity: a growing risk and opportunity

As a member of the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, we are committed to integrating nature into our investment strategy. This update outlines our progress, challenges and next steps.

Why We Act on Nature
The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss among the top global risks, given the essential role of ecosystem services in economic systems¹. PGGM recognizes that our investments both rely on and impact nature. Integrating biodiversity into financial decision-making is complex, hindered by data limitations and systemic challenges. Yet, we see this as an opportunity to complement our climate strategy with a broader focus on environmental sustainability.

How We Act on Nature
We have taken concrete steps to embed nature and biodiversity into our investment practices, guided by PFZW’s policy and the mitigation hierarchy²:

• Minimum sustainability standards: Since 2024, PGGM applies minimum biodiversity standards for listed companies in high-risk sectors. To remain investable, companies in food, chemicals, and metals & mining sector must have a policy on deforestation, ecosystem conversion, or biodiversity. These sectors, plus pharmaceuticals, must also meet water-related criteria, such as having a reduction target or management system. Companies involved in severe biodiversity-related controversies are excluded from the investable universe.
• Positive contribution: PFZW aims to allocate 30% of its portfolio to investments contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. While we do not target specific SDGs individually, those directly linked to nature, SDG 6, 12, 14 and 15, are key to this goal.
• Impact investing: PFZW has made nature and biodiversity a priority for impact investing, with a goal approved last December to contribute to nature restoration and halting biodiversity loss. Aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework, this goal targets investments that reduce pressures on nature and actively restore ecosystems. Our impact investing strategy focuses on three priority areas: food transition, materials transition and direct nature restoration, marking a significant step toward delivering measurable environmental benefits.
• Active ownership: We use our influence to encourage corporate action. Since 2021, biodiversity-related KPIs have been part of our engagement. In 2023, biodiversity was added to our voting guidelines, reflecting expectations for companies to reduce their negative impact on nature. And in 2024, we launched a dedicated engagement program urging companies, particularly in food and materials, to adopt targets and strategies for halting biodiversity loss. A recent example includes our dialogue with Ahold Delhaize on regenerative agriculture.

What’s Next?
We recognize that integrating nature into investment decisions is an evolving challenge. Our upcoming priorities include setting sustainability standards for non-listed investments, refining our impact investing strategy for food and materials, exploring investment strategies in nature restoration and improving our portfolio-wide biodiversity risk management.

By collaborating with peers, governments, and NGOs, we aim to promote shared standards, expand investable opportunities, and strengthen biodiversity’s role in the global sustainability agenda.

1. World Economic Forum (2025). The Global Risks Report 2025. Available at: WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2025.pdf
2. The Biodiversity Consultancy. Mitigation Hierarchy: Net Positive and the Mitigation Hierarchy. Mitigation Hierarchy - The Biodiversity Consultancy