Sustainable banking

Nordea in the driver’s seat in nature-related risk management

Nordea is a frontrunner in addressing nature-related risks and opportunities, according to the second annual Nature Survey conducted by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). The survey, which includes 48 financial services providers from across the globe, places Nordea near or at the top in nearly all six maturity model categories and second overall.

Field of purple flowers

The GARP survey highlights significant progress in the integration of nature considerations into various risk types among the respondents. It concludes that such integration has more than doubled since 2024 although only less than a third of companies currently integrate nature into credit, reputational, strategy and market risk assessments. Notably, Nordea achieves top marks across all these categories.

Veronica Palmgren, Strategic ESG Risk Expert at Nordea.

Rapidly rising on the agenda

According to the survey, 21% of the participating financial firms are using nature-related metrics, targets or limits, while 62% are working on it or intend to do so. This trend underscores the growing importance of nature and biodiversity in the financial sector's sustainability efforts. 

“Biodiversity is already on the agenda among many corporates, but the impact is more difficult to quantify than climate and greenhouse gas emissions. This area is not only important for risk management within the financial sector but also a strategic and business opportunity for companies as we see pressure on nature increasing. We’re pleased to be placed among companies that are leading the way in developing processes and methodologies to manage the risks related to nature and biodiversity,” says Veronica Palmgren, Strategic ESG Risk Expert at Nordea.

Anja Hannerz, Head of Group Sustainability.

Supporting our customers’ transition

Besides the risk management part, Nordea is also taking other important steps in the area, explains Anja Hannerz, Head of Group Sustainability at Nordea. 

Latest measures include an update to Nordea’s financing framework, which now has more detailed information on how biodiversity projects can qualify for sustainable financing, and we’re also active in the development of a biodiversity credit market. And recently we held a series of biodiversity-themed events for our corporate customers across our four Nordic home markets. 

“We’re focused on building our capacity to be able to support the transition of our customers to reduce negative impact and increase positive impact on nature. This takes place within Nordea but also in collaboration with the sector and other organisations as lack of data and models are the biggest challenge. We’re currently supporting research to develop methods for assessing the biodiversity footprint of economic activities in the Nordics. It will give us valuable insights and will support financial institutions’ decision-making and support our customers in the transition,” Anja Hannerz concludes.

About the survey

48 financial services providers participated in total, of which 29 were banks, 11 asset managers and 8 insurers. Most banks had operations in Europe (90%), North America (81%) and/or Asia-Pacific (69%). 

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