Nature is increasingly being valued in global markets as a dependency risk, a basis for a new generation of credit markets, a driver of productivity and resilience, and a basis for pricing ecosystem services and nature assets. For this to be a positive development for nature and its stewards, the value of nature must be based on scientifically robust measurements of biodiversity.
The SEED Index is the world’s most comprehensive biodiversity assessment. It quantifies the full extent of genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity and their variation through time on a global scale. Developed by ecologists of the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, the index draws on all available environmental data to provide a holistic measure of biological complexity (or “biocomplexity”) whilst continuously integrating emerging metrics that measure individual aspects of biodiversity. The index enables a high-integrity valuation of biodiversity that can underpin new financial and policy mechanisms geared towards a nature-positive world.
NatureFinance is a Geneva-based, international not-for-profit dedicated to aligning global finance with equitable, nature-positive outcomes, contributing to efforts to address climate goals and a just transition to sustainable development. Its work includes initiatives to build and use biodiversity data to improve the management and mitigation of nature-related risks and impacts, the development of purposeful nature markets, advancing financial innovations, strengthening nature-related liabilities and citizen action on nature.
SEED will support the continued development of the index, engage with key initiatives advancing the valuation of nature in investment decisions and global markets, and present the value of the index to policymakers and market shapers. It will design, develop and execute a robust, sustainable, financially viable and impactful basis for bringing the SEED Index into use in global markets.
