We’re pleased to share news of our partnership with Global Canopy, a data-driven not for profit that targets the market forces destroying nature. Together, this partnership aims to empower investors and banks to integrate deforestation considerations into financial decisions, steering capital towards outcomes that benefit both people and the planet.
Financial institutions will now have the ability to assess and manage deforestation-related risks in their portfolios through the integration of Global Canopy’s Forest IQ and Forest 500 datasets into GIST Impact‘s data and analytics platform.
The Forest IQ dataset encompasses detailed assessments of how 2,400 major companies are addressing their links to deforestation risk. It evaluates companies based on three key dimensions: exposure to deforestation through commodity supply chains, materiality of deforestation risks, and performance reporting on addressing their exposure.
As a cornerstone of the Forest IQ database, alongside SPOTT and Trase, the Forest 500 dataset assesses and ranks the 500 companies and 150 financial institutions most influential in the deforestation space on their policies and performance related to deforestation risk. This ranking serves as a critical tool for investors to identify entities with significant deforestation risks and to engage with them on improving their environmental practices.
By integrating these datasets into GIST Impact’s platform, financial institutions can now:
- Easily identify their exposure to deforestation risks in their portfolios.
- Assess the materiality of these risks in financial and operational contexts.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of corporate governance in addressing deforestation.
This partnership enhances GIST Impact’s existing capabilities in providing comprehensive science-backed nature data and analytics, acting as a single source for best-in-class nature and biodiversity data for investor decision-making. Going forward, financial institutions can integrate deforestation-related data into their decision-making and engagement strategies. By acting on deforestation, a major source of emissions, they can progress on both climate and nature transitions at once.
“Deforestation has always been a blow to the GDP of the poor, a livelihood loss and a loss of biodiversity. However, it has now also become a material financial risk that investors must account for,” said Pavan Sukhdev, Founder and CEO of GIST Impact. “By integrating Global Canopy’s Forest IQ and Forest 500 datasets into our platform, we’re giving investors the tools to quantify, compare, and act on deforestation-related risks with confidence and clarity. This partnership brings rigour, scale, and science to an area of ESG that has too often lacked transparency,” added Sukhdev.
Niki Mardas, Executive Director, at Global Canopy said: “This partnership will amplify the reach of Global Canopy’s deforestation data and allow organisations to measure and quantify their impact on nature and society. Protecting forests is central to nature and biodiversity targets and crucial to safeguard future business risk.”
The collective goal of this partnership is to make deforestation analysis the norm at every financial institution. Starting now, this means integrating Forest IQ and Forest 500 seamlessly with the entire range of climate and nature data that GIST Impact provides, including ENCORE data, and providing Global Canopy with market feedback. Looking forward, GIST Impact will contribute data as well as technology assistance to support the expansion of Forest IQ to cover even more of the global economy.
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For media inquiries or further information, please contact:
Alexandra Downs
GIST Impact
Rue Swabey
Global Canopy
