A check in conversation with Cameron Frayling, CEO of Pivotal Earth, about biodiversity, one of the most important sets of things we should track and measure, and yet it is super difficult and mostly hasn’t been done until now at scale at all. The data is simply not there, so what do we do? With Cameron we check in with one of the leading companies trying to bring technology to this space and make biodiversity measured at scale and cost-effective.
We learn a lot about the current tracking devices and new hardware Cameron would love to see developed, how little most biodiversity experts actually know and not many are able to identify the right insects, etc. What data to trust and how to build trustworthy data, plus the most active customer of the company, not biodiversity credit developers, but regen farm land forestry developers that want to report to their investors about biodiversity gains because the investors are asking for it or regulation is forcing them.
LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION ON:
PEOPLE ARE ANNOYED WITH THE POOR ESG METRICS THEY GET WHEN INVESTING IN FARMLAND FUNDS
Cameron predicts that commodity purchasers will start to pay attention to biodiversity metrics as a way to source supply and that supply chain data will be available for purchase this year.
‘’It is also incredibly impactful because people are doing it, partly because they need to report some of these things. But mostly, it’s the investors who are incredibly annoyed with ESG markings and how little they actually mean, now wanting real data to back these things up. And that’s what I would say: those are our customers, the people who are angry with how little ESG marks actually mean. And then, of course, that’s a great sector of people that we’d like to work with.” Cameron Frayling
REGEN AG FUNDS AND FORESTRY FUNDS ARE THE KEY CLIENTS FOR PIVOTAL
Cameron discusses a project with two groups in Southeast Asia, focusing on regenerative farming and forestry and their potential impact on biodiversity metrics.
́”I would say it’s asset managers backing regenerative farming projects or forestry projects around the world. One of our clients is in Japan, for example, and there’s a project that we’re going to be doing with them this summer that hopefully expands to lots of other areas that they have around Southeast Asia. I would say just those two groups—regenerative farming and forestry—could cover an absolutely enormous number of hectares.” Cameron Frayling
́”What we don’t see is the companies themselves being the drivers, but the investors behind the companies, and they want this data. There’s a lot of people who want to make ethical and moral investments that are quite long-term sometimes. And they’re creating funds specifically to make these kinds of investments. So, we’re seeing that with, for example, a lot of Swiss banks. There’re funds in the US, there’s funds in the UK, all kinds of different asset managers.” – Cameron Frayling
REGULATION (ON DEFORESTATION AND DISCLOSURES) LEADS THE SPACE
According to Cameron, regulation and stakeholders’ pressure drive companies to report on sustainability data.
”Lots of people will say they’ll do it, and it just isn’t. And also, even if they do it, if they do it badly, there are no repercussions. So, for me, the drivers really are regulation and stakeholder pressure. There are a lot of people who really do want this kind of data to be part of their investment decisions and for their companies to report it. I think the requirements from regulation do drive companies to start acting and to start trying to figure out how to do these things. I think a staged approach definitely makes sense. So, it’s a stage between this year and 2026. In terms of a ramp-up for disclosures, people need to sort of start to figure things out. What I always expect with some of these things is that there’ll be pushback from industry, that some things will be delayed, and that they’ll be watered down a little bit. But by then, there’s still an impact; there is still something that’s happened where a company has had to start to figure this out, and I think you then have a spectrum of behaviours from companies. But inevitably, you will be moving in that direction of requiring this kind of reporting” Cameron Frayling
OTHER POINTS DISCUSSED
Koen and Cameron also talked about:
- Ocean conservation and restoration potential
- Using machine learning for marine species identification
- Challenges in collecting and analyzing biodiversity data
LINKS:
- Pivotal Earth
- Cameron’s email: info@pivotal.earth
- Voluntary disclosure framework I mentioned – TNFD
- PV Nature Methodology
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Cameron Frayling on what is needed to unlock biodiversity credits
- Tim Coates – Sell flood mitigation to institutional players to finance water cycle restoration
- Henry Rowlands – Listening the world’s soil heart beat cheaply, audibly, in real time
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.