4 May 2023
Travis Tucker
HSBC Asset Management Research & Insights Senior Manager
Learning About ESG is an educational series that connects environmental, social and governance topics with investing.
Join us each issue to see how global developments can have implications for investors. The better we understand ESG, the bigger the role it can play in our everyday lives – and investment portfolios – contributing to a better world.
Governments and private companies have been advancing space exploration efforts of late, with the latest attempt at landing a robot on the moon coming days after Earth Day. Yet, slow progress should serve as a reminder that any ambitions of finding exciting new planets to call home will remain science fiction for the foreseeable future, if not forever. In the spirit of Earth Day, we must begin to appreciate the rich life on this planet that has been providing us with a long list of our essentials – breathable air, food, water, building materials, energy sources, medicines, and more, or else face a bleak future.
The planet’s biodiversity underpins the global economy. Services it delivers, such as crop pollination or the removal of carbon from the atmosphere (carbon sequestration), are worth an estimated USD125-140 trillion annually. That is roughly 1.5 times global economic output each year[@oecd-biodiversity].
Herein lies the problem. Ecosystem services are not captured or valued in the formal economy. As a result, up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction, with more than USD200 billion of global crop output annually at risk due to loss of their pollinators[@un-sustainable-development-report]. The World Economic Forum estimates that more than half of the world’s output is moderately to highly dependent on nature. Yet around a fifth of countries are at risk of their ecosystems collapsing[@biodiversity-and-ecosystem-services].
Output dependence on nature
The fact that biodiversity loss and climate change are inextricably linked has further raised the profile of biodiversity-related initiatives. Land use change, mainly consisting of deforestation, is responsible for up to a fifth of CO2 emissions itself[@the-london-school].
One reason for the lack of value placed on biodiversity historically is that it can offer little direct economic benefits to the local landowners. For example, it’s typically worth more to a farmer to cut down trees than to keep a forest in the ground. To address this conflict, we need a system that values the ecological services the forest provides and aligns the incentive of the farmer with that of the public good.
Early steps are being taken. As an example, Gabon is one of the world’s only net sequesters of carbon, to the tune of over 100 million tonnes annually. In reward, the African republic has become the first to be paid for continued preservation of its forests as part of a USD150 million deal with the UN-backed Central African Forest Initiative.
Even in the absence of such large-scale solutions, preserving and restoring biodiversity can already provide financial gains to landowners. Switching from industrialised agriculture to restorative farming, or from intensive to more sustainable forestry methods, serve as examples.
The aforementioned examples of sustainable changes can deliver a new and broader set of cash flows, with greater resilience. This is due to the higher value being placed on sustainable agriculture and wood products by consumers, ancillary revenue streams such as eco-tourism, savings on pesticides and fertilisers, along with potential land price appreciation due to the mounting scarcity value of biodiverse land.
Demand from large corporations which have made commitments to biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions offers further financial incentives, through growing sales of carbon offsets, or credits for the removal of carbon dioxide emissions to offset emissions made elsewhere.
Early progress in valuing nature’s services is important. With new regulations driving up the price of carbon emissions, as evidenced by the roughly 600% increase for EU carbon allowances over the last five years, this should translate to enhanced value and revenue streams for natural carbon sinks.
For investors, exposure to assets that are countering instead of aggravating biodiversity loss and climate change will serve as a useful diversifier against environmental risks elsewhere in their portfolio. It also means opportunity for positive impact while investing in assets whose value should rise to match their importance.
Perhaps financial incentives will give Earth Day a more prominent slot in our calendars in future, so that we celebrate it accordingly.
ESG: a set of Environmental, Social and Governance criteria that investors can apply to analyse and identify material risks and growth opportunities in investments.
Natural carbon sinks: like forests, the ocean and soil are natural reservoirs that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Carbon sequestration: Capturing and storing carbon dioxide, keeping it out of the Earth’s atmosphere so that it doesn’t cause the atmosphere to warm. The process helps reduce climate change.
Carbon emissions: are emissions stemming from the burning of fossil fuels during any kind of manufacturing process.
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Important information on sustainable investing
In broad terms “ESG and sustainable investing” products include investment approaches or instruments which consider environmental, social, governance and/or other sustainability factors to varying degrees. Certain instruments we classify as sustainable may be in the process of changing to deliver sustainability outcomes. There is no guarantee that ESG and Sustainable investing products will produce returns similar to those which don’t consider these factors. ESG and Sustainable investing products may diverge from traditional market benchmarks. In addition, there is no standard definition of, or measurement criteria for, ESG and Sustainable investing or the impact of ESG and Sustainable investing products. ESG and Sustainable investing and related impact measurement criteria are (a) highly subjective and (b) may vary significantly across and within sectors.
HSBC may rely on measurement criteria devised and reported by third party providers or issuers. HSBC does not always conduct its own specific due diligence in relation to measurement criteria. There is no guarantee: (a) that the nature of the ESG / sustainability impact or measurement criteria of an investment will be aligned with any particular investor’s sustainability goals; or (b) that the stated level or target level of ESG / sustainability impact will be achieved. ESG and Sustainable investing is an evolving area and new regulations are being developed which will affect how investments can be categorised or labelled. An investment which is considered to fulfil sustainable criteria today may not meet those criteria at some point in the future.
