India is among the world’s top 10 ‘most bio-diverse’ countries with 7-8 per cent of all recorded species, including over 45,000 plant species and 91,000 animal species.35 The accelerating decline of global biodiversity is one of the most urgent environmental concerns. Interdependence between biodiversity and economic growth3 has led to the rise of concepts such as natural capital and natural capital finance. An analysis shows that 74 per cent of the FTSE index sectors potentially have high-very high dependencies on natural resources.

UK and France’s central banks have issued warnings about the risks that the global financial system faces due to erosion of biodiversity. NVGRF’s Principle 4 urges financial institutions to recognise and address “biodiversity conservation through their lines of credit and investment.”