Collaborative investment in agricultural impact information: Needed now more than ever — posted January 2020
Environmental Impact Reporting in Agriculture (EIRA)
The agriculture sector faces increasing environmental risks related to climate change and resource degradation. With appropriate information, investors, asset managers, and corporate decision makers can direct capital toward agricultural operations with better environmental performance and lower risks. However, many important types of environmental impact data are sparsely collected or difficult to access. Mobilizing such information in a consistent, science-based manner can drive the transition to sustainable agriculture by facilitating sound investment decisions, risk management and robust impact reporting.
Steps to address this increasingly urgent need are outlined in a new report, “Environmental Impact Reporting in Agriculture (EIRA): Creating a link between agricultural investments and environmental impact.” [PDF] This report builds on a 2018 feasibility assessment conducted by Clarmondial AG and Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR) with support from EIT Climate-KIC’s Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Booster.
Aiming to lay the foundation for dynamic, globally-relevant benchmarking of environmental impacts in agriculture, the EIRA report addresses shared challenges of agriculture sector investors, companies, researchers, and other stakeholders. It proposes a pathway to design, build, and test a software tool that meets their needs for improved and meaningful environmental impact information. Core elements of the EIRA tool will include a methodology for aggregating fragmented data sources and an interface for tool users to customize outputs to specific geographies and commodities. Output metrics will be used to compare the environmental impact of specific value chains and transactions against baselines over time and across investment portfolios.
About Versant Vision LLC:
Versant Vision LLC provides consultancy and research services to international organizations, research institutions, and industry groups. Based in New York City, it supports market-based and policy initiatives toward sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation, and food security.
About Clarmondial AG:
Clarmondial AG is an independent investment advisory company that focuses on practical, profitable, and creative solutions for social and environmental businesses and their funders. Established in Switzerland in 2010, it helps leading companies, governments, NGOs, donors and investors, by designing and implementing funding structures that enable ESG impact at attractive risk-adjusted returns.
About Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR):
Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR), is one of Europe’s leading food and agricultural research institutions, based in the Netherlands.
About EIT Climate-KIC’s CSA Booster:
CSA Booster is Europe’s leading knowledge and innovation hub pioneering the transition to climate-smart agriculture and food across Europe, and around the world. It works across European supply chains and partners with national, regional and international governments, research organizations, NGOs, entrepreneurs and leading corporates to unlock climate-smart innovation in Europe’s farming and food sectors. Established in 2015, CSA Booster is a flagship initiative of Climate-KIC’s Sustainable Land Use programme, sponsored by EIT, a body of the European Union.