Nature Action 100, an investor engagement initiative with 190 institutional investors representing nearly $24 trillion in assets announced its list of 100 companies to be targeted in a campaign aimed at driving corporate action to address nature loss and biodiversity decline.

Companies targeted by the campaign include Amazon, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Walmart and Glencore. According to Nature Action 100, companies were selected based on market capitalization within key sectors, and using of those with the highest impacts on nature. Key targeted sectors include biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, household and personal goods, consumer goods retail, food, food and beverage retail, forestry and paper, and metals and mining.

Nature Action 100 was initially launched at the COP15 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, coordinating investor engagement activity to increase corporate ambition and action to combat nature loss. According to the Nature Action 100 launch statement, the initiative was formed as financial risk from biodiversity and nature loss grow, with $44 trillion of economic value generation – more than half of global GDP – reliant on nature’s services, and tens of billions of dollars potentially at risk over the next 5 to 10 years from the continued production of deforestation-linked commodities.

Each of the 100 focus companies have been sent letters to kick off the engagement campaign, explaining the systemic risk to businesses arising from nature and biodiversity loss, with deteriorating ecosystems already impacting operations, supply chains, and financial returns.

The letters call on the companies to implement a set of expectations outlined by the initiative, including committing to minimize contributions to key drivers of nature loss and to conserve and restore ecosystems, assess and disclose nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities across the value chain, set targets on nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities, and a plan to achieve the targets, establish board oversight on nature-related issues, and engage across the value chain to implement the nature-related plans and targets.

Click here for the list of focus companies, and the investors participating in Nature Action 100.

Adam Kanzer, Head of Stewardship, Americas, BNP Paribas Asset Management, said:

“As a member of the Nature Action 100 Launching Investor Group, we are gratified and energized by the strong response we’ve received from both asset managers and asset owners around the world. We believe this sends a very strong signal to the global markets – we must work together to reverse the systemic risk of nature loss. We have limited time, but working together with these 100 companies, we believe we can make a considerable difference. The real work begins now.”