Webinar | 29 November 2010, 4:00-5:00 PM GMT

The Natural Value Initiative’s Ecosystem Services Benchmark – evaluating impacts and dependence on ecosystem services The Natural Value Initiative aims to raise awareness within the private sector on the risks associated with corporate impacts and dependence on ecosystem services, and catalyse action to address them. It has created the Ecosystem Services Benchmark, a tool to evaluate the risks and opportunities associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services. Building on last year’s focus on the food, beverage and tobacco sectors, the NVI is now turning its attention to the ecosystem services risks and opportunities faced by the mining and energy industries. This session will provide signatories with an update on NVI’s upcoming plans, and will provide both company and investor perspectives on the Ecosystem Services Benchmark. F&C will share their thoughts as an investor on the pros and cons of the Benchmark, while a company representative (Unilever, TBC) will comment from the perspective of a company that took part in the Benchmark last year. The session will also touch on some of the recent developments emerging from the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties in Nagoya in October. F&C Investments, Aviva Investors, Pax World, Mn Services, Syntrus Achmea Asset Management and VicSuper are currently involved in this project, and other investors are invited to join.

Presentations

Audio

Speakers

  • Annelisa Grigg, Project Director, Natural Value Initiative (NVI), Fauna & Flora International
    Annelisa Grigg is an independent consultant and project director of the Natural Value Initiative (NVI). Previously, Annelisa led international environmental NGO, Fauna & Flora International’s (FFI) Environmental Markets team where she focused on brokering partnerships with the finance sector and on developing opportunities linked to the emerging markets for ecosystem services. As part of this, Annelisa developed FFI’s work on sustainable income streams linked to the reduction of emissions from deforestation through a global collaboration with Australian investor Macquarie Group. Annelisa is a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative workstream on biodiversity and ecosystem services and has advised companies such as British American Tobacco, Lafarge and Anglo American on their impacts on biodiversity and actions to reduce them. Prior to working with FFI, Annelisa was a manager within KPMG’s Global Sustainability Services team for eight years.
  • Sagarika Chatterjee, Associate Director, Governance & Sustainable Investment, F&C
    Sagarika joined F&C in 2002. Sagarika leads the team’s investor engagement programme on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity. Prior to joining F&C, Sagarika worked for the buying team of home improvement retailer Kingfisher, sourcing timber products from sustainably-managed forests. Before this, she worked in higher education in China for two years. Sagarika sits on Earthwatch’s Board of Trustees and is Vice Chair of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. Sagarika holds an MSc in Development Studies from the University of London, a postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Sagarika is proficient in Bengali.