On this International Day for Biological Diversity, let us remind ourselves that the rise of GHG emissions is not the core challenge that humanity has to face.

A much more urgent issue is its direct consequence on the biodiversity collapse (among other drivers such as change of land use), questioning our very ability to inhabit earth.

Since 2021, at Rivage Investment, we have been deploying our Biodiversity Roadmap to do our part, by investing time and resources to better understand and mitigate the impact of infrastructure projects on biodiversity.

Since then, we have:

• Experimented on our infrastructure portfolios with dedicated KPIS used by peers in our ESG impact assessments (Corporate Biodiversity Footprints)
• Changed the way we integrate biodiversity impact in our due diligence process (systematic rating from both project and sector perspective…)
• Signed the Finance for Biodiversity pledge to publicly commit to further integration of this theme in our investment policy
• Joined the Target Setting Group of the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation to help us define a relevant quantitative pathway
• Financed a reforestation project in Normandy with Stock CO2 specifically designed to enhance biodiversity on 12 ha with over 10 endemic tree species
• Set up a partnership between Rivage Investment, expert advisory firm Carbone 4, the Long Term Infrastructure Investor Association and representatives of the French scientific community (including the French Museum D’Histoire Naturelle) to develop a new robust methodology assessing negative and positive impact of infrastructure projects on ecosystems. Official launch of the initiative is planned on Tuesday May 23rd (tomorrow) at the Salon de l’Hotel des Arts et Métiers (Paris, 75016), at 7pm.

The road ahead is still long, but we are, more than ever, investing in our future.