BIOPATH Newsletter for members, partners and stakeholders with news about activities and learning opportunities on biodiversity and business |
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What´s on in BIOPATH?
Welcome to this first issue of the Mistra BIOPATH newsletter. Four times a year, we will communicate news from us in this format. There is so much on our agenda and not everything will fit in this news format. Therefore, we hope that you visit our webpage and follow us on LinkedIn. Please share with colleagues
or interested parties and encourage them to sign up to our mailing list.
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You are also more than welcome to contact us if you want to know more about Mistra BIOPATH and how our outcomes can promote your biodiversity journey.
We believe that enhanced
knowledge and awareness of biodiversity is a critical first step in
understanding and solving the huge, complex, and urgent challenges related to
halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Within BIOPATH, we are developing a
comprehensive educational platform that will assist the financial system,
industry, and academia with pathways towards capacity building. Also, for
natural scientists it is hard to keep up with all new concepts, policies and
frameworks that pop up.
Earlier this
Spring, we launched BIOPATH Dialogue where we invite experts to our community to
give a presentation on a contemporary topic of relevance to our research
programme. So, fare we have covered GRI 304, GRI 13, COP15 and ENCORE. As a
pre-launch to our educational platform, we will launch BIOPATH Crash-course on
Biodiversity & Business Concepts.
Will the TNFD framework be globally implemented like
the TCFD recommendations? While this remains to be seen, we urge organisations
to participate in the development process of
this new framework by testing and providing feedback on the different
prototypes. In line with this, we initiated the TNFD pilot project last
year among partners in the Mistra BIOPATH consortium. Throughout the year, we will organise
four TNFD workshops. At the workshops our
partners share their experiences (and sometimes frustration) from the
implementation process. We focus on identifying archetypes of challenges and
engage in constructive discussion to suggest how these challenged could be
solved. At the end of the project, a joint feedback report from BIOPATH
will be communicated to the Taskforce.
Since the start of
our programme, we have taken an active role in the public debate related to
biodiversity. Both researchers and partners involved in BIOPATH were present at
the COP15. I was invited as a panelist in a side-event organized by EEA and EIB
where the focus was on risk, return and the role of data in unlocking
investments into nature. There was a unison agreement among the participants
that the upcoming IPBES Business & Biodiversity Assessment will be critical.
Last week we learned that BIOPATH board member Matt Jones, Head of Nature Economy at UNEP-WCMC, has been appointed as one of three Co-chairs of the new
assessment. An excellent choice! We look forward to following his important
work. Susanne Arvidsson, Mistra BIOPATH Programme Director | | | | | | | | | BIOPATH
partners provide feedback on TNFD pilot
The BIOPATH
workshop on the Task Force for Nature-related Disclosure, TNFD,
in early March, had a dual objective. The first was to share experiences from
piloting TNFD framework among Mistra BIOPATH partners.
Secondly, it was to develop a feedback paper to the TNFD and see if we can identify areas for improvement, says Viktor Elliot. Read more
| |  fd | Welcome Jesper Svensson postdoc WP3Since 1 March, Jesper Svensson is a Mistra BIOPATH
post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science, Lund University. He
has a PhD from the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University,
and his research will seek to shed light on the conditions under which market-based
strategies promote or hinder biodiversity conservation. Read more about his research and a book tip here.
| | | | | Public event 19 April, Gothenburg | BIOPATH
at Gbg Science Festival
At the International Science festival in Gothenburg, three researchers from Mistra BIOPATH talk about challenges and opportunities as companies need to transform their business activities and integrate considerations related to biodiversity and values from ecosystem integrity.
All three work packages are represented in this interactive talk with Viktor Elliot, Lena Gipperth and Ulrika Palme. Read more, share the link and sign up to attend!
| | fd | Public event 20 April, Lund | BIOPATH at Lund Sustainability WeekAt the UN Conference on the Convention for Biodiversity in Montreal in December 2022, the post-2020 Globalt Biodiversity Framework was agreed setting goals and actions for halting further loss and working on more sustainble use of natural resources. Researchers and partner companies from BIOPATH share perspectives on the challenges bur also on what business and organisations need to start doing now - and how.
Read more, share the link or sign up to attend! | | | | | Crasch-course on Biodiversity & Business concepts and terminologyWe are launching a 4 week email- and webb based brief and basic overview of common terminology and concepts that relate to biodiversity and business. What is the baseline that you need to know to get started with understanding the tools for risk assessments, the development of reporting requirements and regulations today and tomorrow. Please sign up to info@mistrabiopath.se. Launch is planned for 24 April and will also be available later at mistrabiopath.se | Jan Bebbington, Dialogue I |
A deep dive into new GRI standards with focus on biodiversityIn the
first BIOPATH Dialogue, Professor
Jan Bebbington, expert in the field of sustainability reporting and disclosure,
Lancaster University, gave a thorough briefing about the new Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) standards, coming into effect in 2023.
The GRI framework helps organisations to understand and manage their environmental and
climate impacts and facilitates communication, visibility and comparison of
efforts related to sustainability.
"If
your organisation is well managed, you will most likely have this data. But
there is a lot to cover both for your own operations as well as suppliers and
downstream effects".
Read more at mistrabiopath.se | | fd |
Reflections after COP 15 in relation to business
and finance
A few months after the COP15 in Montreal, Matt Jones,
Head of Nature Economy at UNEP-WCMC, shared some main take-aways. What came out
of this Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity? How should this be taken into account and what comes next?
Most
attention has been on the Global Biodiversity Framework, GBF, which was agreed
on at COP15 but Matt Jones stresses that the whole package of decisions should be considered all together. "A
lot of people regard target 15 as the (only) Business target but all the sets
of targets are relevant to financial institutions and private sector. Looking
at each target there is much that can be done". Read more at mistrabiopath.se | | | | | WWF Briefing for Business: IPCC Climate report 6 April (External event)With the release of the IPCC's sixth assessment report showing the sheer gravity of the climate crisis, WWF are hosting a briefing for businesses on the report, highlighting the severity of the situation, and commenting on how it relates to business.
Speakers: Dr Stephen Cornelius, Global Deputy Lead for the Climate and Energy Department and Dr Stephanie Roe, WWF's Global Climate and Energy Lead Scientist and Lead Author on IPCC Working Group III report on mitigation. | | | | | Business and Biodiversity-Putting a value on Nature? (External event)This conference is held as a celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the Botanical Garden in Gothenburg as well as the Gothenburg University School of Business, Economics and Law.
The full day conference on 4 May offers a morning session with several BIOPATH researchers and partner organisations - Professor Alexandre Antonelli, Gothenburg University and KEW Gardens, representatives from COOP and Västra Götaland Region, VGR. The afternoon session includes a workshop with WWF and a guided tour of the Botanical Gardens.
There is an opportunity to join an excursion on 3 May to sites around Gothenburg of special biodiversity relevance and case studies on how land use activities can take biodiversity into considerations.
| | | | | BIOPATH Programme meeting 23 MayAll members and partners to Mistra BIOPATH will soon receive the agenda for the Spring Programme meeting in Lund. We are happy to have secured excellent key note speakers, some educational entertainment and plenty of time to workshop and network througout the day. In conjunction to the meeting, the next TNFD workshop will take place, also in Lund. Please contact BIOPATH Coordinator Johanna Generosi if you have any questions regarding the events. | | | | | | | CalendarUpcoming workshops, labs, public events and linked events | 12 April 2023 kl. 10.00-15.00 | Policy lab - LundBIOPATH Policy lab - Forestry Sector, WP3 | | | | | | | | BIOPATH info folderFolders presenting the BIOPATH programme for external events or to share with stakeholders are now available. If you want a bundle, contact Communications Mgr Marianne Loor | | | | | | |
| | Mistra BIOPATHSchool of Economics and Management Lund University P.O. Box 7080 SE-220 07 Lund, Sweden
+46 46-222 00 00
info@mistrabiopath.se
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