Location, location, location: asset location data sources for nature-related financial risk analysis

Abstract

Nature, the services it provides and the threats it is exposed to are inherently location-specific. Therefore, financial institutions will need to apply geospatial analysis to accurately assess nature-related financial risks. As a minimum, this requires knowing where a counterparty’s operations or supply chains are located. Asset location information is often cited by financial institutions as a major data gap for nature-related analysis. While granular supply chain data is notoriously hard to collect, location information about companies’ direct operational assets is available for various industries. We review different sources of asset location data, analyse their availability per industry and provide recommendations to reduce the location data barrier and address the ‘lack of data’ excuse to delay nature action.