Index provider S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) announced today the launch of biodiversity-focused versions of its flagship S&P 500 and Global LargeMidCap indices, aimed at offering investors with a benchmarking solution integrating sustainability factors including biodiversity, the UN SDGs, and climate change.

The new indices mark an expansion of the sustainability-focused benchmarks offered by S&P, and follows the recent launch of SDG-focused versions of the S&P 500 and Global LargeMIdCap indices, providing exposure to companies more aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Jas Duhra, Global Head of Sustainability Indices at S&P DJI, said:

“S&P Dow Jones Indices’ approach to index design reflects a holistic view of the vast sustainability ecosystem and biodiversity is an important part of this equation. The S&P Biodiversity Indices are designed to help offer additional insights for our clients and market participants who are seeking to measure, analyze and better understand their investments’ impact on the natural world, and support their goals to create a more resilient and ecologically conscious investment landscape.”

According to S&P DJI, constituents for the new S&P 500 Biodiversity Index and S&P Global LargeMidCap Biodiversity Index are selected and weighted to reflect their alignment with certain environmental and biodiversity objectives, with screening and selection utilizing S&P Global Sustainable1’s Nature & Biodiversity Risk dataset, which assesses nature-related impacts and dependencies across a company’s direct operations. Selection and weighting for the indices reflect a collective reduction of the ecosystem impact intensity, limit the proportion of ecosystem impact to significant land, and also consider alignment with specific SDGs, as well as a reduction in carbon footprint relative to the parent indices.

Steven Bullock, Global Head of Research and Methodology at S&P Global Sustainable1, said:

“S&P Global Sustainable1 research shows that 85 percent of the world’s largest companies have a significant dependency on nature and biodiversity. This makes access to nature- and biodiversity-focused data, insights, and analytics essential in the support of market participants understanding, managing, and mitigating exposure of nature-related risks and impacts.”