Further Reading

The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge). The Review was commissioned in 2019 by HM Treasury and has been supported by an Advisory Panel drawn from public policy, science, economics, finance and business.

The Review calls for changes in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural world. Grounded in a deep understanding of ecosystem processes and how they are affected by economic activity, the new framework presented by the Review sets out how we should account for Nature in economics and decision-making.

Biodiversity loss is moving up the agenda of governments, civil society and financial institutions. Billed as the ‘Year of Biodiversity’ because of the biodiversity COP in Kunming, 2020 saw biodiversity in the headlines for other reasons as a type of disease made more likely by nature loss emerged to cause a global pandemic. As efforts intensify through 2021, including the Dasgupta Review of the Economics of Biodiversity and launch of the Taskforce for Nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD), there is a growing need to increase knowledge, explain terminology and map how nature loss poses risks to financial institutions.

CISL has done exactly this, building on the Dasgupta review to produce a handbook, in collaboration with financial institutions and University of Cambridge academics, for identifying nature-related financial risks that explains key concepts and provides a framework for risk identification.