For the second year in a row, French data provider Iceberg Data Lab (IDL) has been named as the Nature-based initiative of the year for the EMEA region.
Over the past year, the firm has expanded its biodiversity offerings and extended its existing range of tools. This includes the Corporate Biodiversity Footprint, which was one of the first metrics to measure biodiversity on the market. It has now been extended to sovereigns and introduced a 'score' to help better translate what the footprint means for an investor's portfolio.
It is not the only score launched by the data provider in the past year, as dependency scores are now available to quantify a company's reliance on ecosystem services. This currently includes 26 different ecosystems across three broad categories: provisioning services, regulating services and cultural services.
A sub-score, Dependency at Risk, specifically quantifies the percentage of total revenues exposed to 'high' or 'very high' dependencies. The score aims to help financial institutions understand which sectors and industries within their portfolio are the most reliant on ecosystem services and support double materiality assessments.
Sensitive area screenings are also now available to its clients. This involves identifying a financial institutions' exposure to companies' activities negatively affecting biodiversity sensitive areas.
Matthieu Maurin, chief executive of Iceberg Data Labs, told Environmental Finance its work "is driven by a belief that innovative technology can and should play a pivotal role in preserving our planet for future generations".
"We continuously invest in developing new indicators, including those that measure positive contributions, to meet investors' needs and align with emerging standards like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures."
He concluded: "We are immensely proud of what we've achieved and look forward to continuing our efforts in advancing sustainability through data-driven solutions."