Biodiversity and Banks: Managing Nature Risks and Opportunities

This book analyzes the financial implications of biodiversity loss and the critical role banks play in both amplifying and mitigating this risk. Drawing on recent academic contributions, central bank reports, and empirical insights, the book frames biodiversity loss as both a source of physical and transition risk, and a driver of financial contagion through disrupted supply chains, asset devaluation, and credit defaults in nature-dependent sectors. The volume describes banking exposure to biodiversity-related risk and evaluates existing tools to measure and manage this exposure, including biodiversity-adjusted ESG ratings, Corporate Biodiversity Footprints (CBF), and the TNFD framework. It then turns to the transformative role that banks can play, through conditional lending, biodiversity-linked instruments, and stewardship strategies, in reversing ecological harm and supporting nature-positive transitions. Targeted at scholars, regulators, and financial practitioners, this book provides a novel framework for integrating biodiversity risk into financial decision-making, prudential supervision, and impact finance. It concludes with actionable policy recommendations and an agenda for future research on nature-related financial risks.