The Significance of Nature Risks for Investors

As part of the institute’s 20th anniversary series, the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI) has published a new blog post that highlights the research of Zacharias Sautner, Professor of Sustainable Finance at our UZH Department of Finance.

In the article, Prof. Sautner explains how his work on climate change and biodiversity fits into the broader field of sustainable finance and why these topics have become increasingly important for financial markets.

The featured research shows that biodiversity loss and related ecosystem risks are no longer only environmental or ethical concerns but are starting to be priced by investors. Drawing on a large international sample of listed firms, the study documents that companies with particularly negative impacts on biodiversity face higher required returns, indicating that markets anticipate future costs, constraints, or investor aversion for such firms.

These insights are highly relevant for companies, investors, and regulators, especially in Switzerland, where sustainable finance plays a key strategic role. The blog post also discusses how firms perceive “nature risks” and presents newly developed measures of corporate dependence on ecosystem services, which can be used by researchers and practitioners. 

More information:

Read the full article on the SFI website: Biodiversity risks and financial markets