S&P Dow Jones Indices, a leading global index provider, has unveiled the S&P Biodiversity Indices, further expanding its suite of sustainability-focused benchmarks tailored for asset managers and financial institutions. These newly introduced indices, namely the S&P 500 Biodiversity Index and S&P Global LargeMidCap Biodiversity Index, are designed to evaluate a subset of equity securities drawn from existing S&P 500 and S&P Global LargeMidCap indices. In crafting these biodiversity-focused benchmarks, S&P 500 and S&P Global LargeMidCap index constituents undergo meticulous selection and weighting to ensure alignment with specific environmental and biodiversity objectives.
The process is informed by the comprehensive Nature & Biodiversity Risk dataset from S&P Global Sustainable1, which evaluates nature-related impacts and dependencies across various levels, including assets, companies, and portfolios. By integrating biodiversity metrics, UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and carbon datasets, the S&P Biodiversity Indices aim to adhere to the goals outlined by the UN’s Biodiversity Conference (COP15). Through this innovative framework, index constituents are strategically chosen and weighted to collectively reduce ecosystem impact intensity, minimize land use, and lower carbon footprints relative to the underlying parent indices.
About the Authors
Associate Director, Investment Banking
Prachurjya has over 16 years of experience in investment banking with Acuity Knowledge Partners. At Acuity, he has led sector and product-specialist pilot teams across Capital Markets, ESG, Debt Advisory, Loan Syndications, Metals & Mining and Real Estate. He has been actively involved in setting up and on-boarding new ESG Advisory, ESG DCM and Sustainable Finance teams for various bulge bracket investment banks. Within DCM and Rating Advisory, he has been instrumental in helping the clients achieve over 30% in annual savings on both regular and adhoc tasks through standardization of the outputs and deployment of our proprietary BEAT tools.
Delivery Manager, Investment Banking
Puja has 6 years of extensive experience in ESG, Climate Change & Sustainability and she is supervising the ESG team at Acuity. She also has diverse experience in conducting ESIA, EHS compliance audits, ESG Risks and Controls, EHS & ESG Due Diligence assessments. Prior to joining Acuity, she was working with companies like KPMG Global Services, EY India and ERM India. She has expertise in provisioning extensive research requirements for clients through preparation of Peer Benchmarking, Target Compilation, Sustainability report, Sustainable Finance Updates and Sectoral ESG Thematic Detailing Engagement.
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