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AllianceBernstein - Root and Branch: A Case Study in Assessing Portfolio Biodiversity Risk
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / February 4, 2026 /What You Need to Know Biodiversity risk is more nuanced and complex than many investors think. For instance, there's a widespread belief that deforestation poses the biggest nature-related risk ...
About this update from Alliancebernstein Holding L.p.
[{"type":"text","content":"NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / February 4, 2026 / What You Need to Know","length":76,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Biodiversity risk is more nuanced and complex than many investors think. For instance, there's a widespread belief that deforestation poses the biggest nature-related risk for most portfolios. But when we applied our proprietary biodiversity risk-assessment framework for a client, we found that water risk-not deforestation-was the portfolio's biggest exposure. Our analysis of the MSCI AWCI Index using the same framework shows water risk is elevated for many companies, highlighting just how important it is to assess biodiversity risk accurately.","length":558,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"table","headerItems":[{"val":[{"type":"heading","content":"16%","length":3,"tagName":"h3","attribs":{}}]},{"val":[{"type":"heading","content":"35%","length":3,"tagName":"h3","attribs":{}}]},{"val":[{"type":"heading","content":"14%","length":3,"tagName":"h3","attribs":{}}]}],"items":[{"val":[{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"of the MSCI ACWI is exposed to the highest level of biodiversity risk","length":69,"tagName":"p"}]},{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"the share of MSCI ACWI for which water risk is high or very high","length":64,"tagName":"p"}]},{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"the share of MSCI ACWI for which deforestation risk is high or very high","length":72,"tagName":"p"}]}]}],"length":214},{"type":"text","content":"Authors","length":7,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Sara Rosner| Director-Responsible Investing ResearchDavid Hutchins, FIA| Portfolio Manager-Multi-Asset SolutionsHenry Smith, CFA| Investment Strategist-Multi-Asset Solutions","length":175,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"The importance of biodiversity as a nature-related risk in investors' portfolios has become better understood in the past few years. Investors are beginning to appreciate how complex and nuanced biodiversity risk can be. For example, there's a widespread assumption that deforestation is the biggest biodiversity risk in many portfolios. That's understandable, given media attention around the topic, and because large-scale deforestation contributes to climate change, which can have a material impact on investments across the globe.","length":547,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"But such assum...