In the ever evolving world of sustainable investment biodiversity loss is increasingly being recognised to be as great a systemic challenge and existential threat as climate change. Indeed, the two are intrinsically linked with climate change and deforestation being key drivers of biodiversity loss.

In seeking to address this and deliver nature positive solutions, asset managers are being required to innovate and improve their assessments of biodiversity impacts and dependencies of different companies. Achieving this effectively may necessitate skills and competencies not traditionally found in the investment industry and therefore entail the need for firms to hire experts from outside financial services. Lombard Odier’s creation of the Chief Nature Officer role is a salient example.

In a tough market environment investing in ground-breaking, strategic hires with the potential to make meaningful, long term impact both internally and externally is a mark of strong and visionary leadership. It also demonstrates long-term commitment to addressing the challenge of delivering sustainable investment solutions. As such, LOIM’s hire of Marc Palahi is a move other asset managers may wish to emulate.