Acknowledging the vital role that banks can have in safeguarding and restoring nature and our environment, the global sustainability academy for bankers – the Principles for Responsible Banking Academy (PRB Academy) – has launched a new nature course, “Applying Nature-Responsible Banking “, which focuses on practical approaches for banks engaging or considering how to engage with nature.

Our world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and nature and biodiversity loss. It is estimated by The World Economic Forum (WEF)[1] that a nature-positive pathway could generate over US$10 trillion in new annual business value, underlining why banks can and must play a bigger role in filling the biodiversity funding gap.

The aim of this course is to help with the ‘how’, covering what is it that banks need to do to reduce their negative impacts on nature and move towards having more positive impacts. The overarching objective of this course is to equip individuals with the critical knowledge and skills needed to navigate the nature-positive transition and create more favourable scenarios for the environment, banks and their customers.

The course is also aligned to The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework, which promotes the integration of nature into strategic and capital allocation decision-making. To support achievement of the course learning outcomes, a fictitious bank is used as a case study and learners are invited to immerse themselves in the role of a sustainability expert. The role involves exploring nature-related issues that are relevant for the bank, such as identifying and assessing impacts, dependencies and risks arising from a fictitious loan portfolio, before making recommendations for developing a nature-related strategy.

[1] WEF, 2022. WEF_Scaling_Investments_in_Nature_2022.pdf (weforum.org)