On Wednesday (9 December), 37 financial companies, including some of Europe's biggest banks and asset managers, signed up to the Finance For Biodiversity pledge. Among them were ABN AMRO, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Swedbank Robur.

They have pledged to set targets and report on the impact their investments have on biodiversity, in much the same that many shareholders are calling for data on carbon emissions.

Targets will be set by Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a United Nations group which is due to meet next year. Companies signed up to the pledge will then be forced to report on things like species extinction, habitat loss and water and land degradation that are affected by their work.