The Nature-related Risk Screening Tool is the first application module of the Biodiversity Finance Digital Platform, jointly developed by the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS) and the Huzhou Green Finance Institute (HZGF). Through three core functions—Sector-level Nature Dependency and Impact Analysis, Project-level Spatial Screening, and Integrated Screening Results—the tool helps financial institutions and companies identify nature-related factors for further attention and verification across individual projects and financing and investment portfolios.

The sector-level analysis is based on a mapping between the ENCORE database and China’s Industrial Classification for National Economic Activities (GB/T 4754—2017). It supports nature dependency and impact analysis for individual projects and financing and investment portfolios nationwide. The spatial screening function is currently being piloted in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. By overlaying project coordinates with ecological spatial layers, the tool identifies whether projects are located within, or how close they are to, Ecological Conservation Redlines, nature reserves, and general ecological spaces. Based on potential sector-level impacts on nature and project-level spatial screening results, the tool applies predefined rules to generate three categories of integrated screening results—Priority Attention, Ongoing Attention, and General Attention—helping users prioritise projects and nature-related factors for further investigation and analysis.

The tool is primarily designed to support early-stage project screening and pre-financing due diligence and assessment. It can also provide foundational information for nature-related analysis of financing and investment portfolios, risk management, and TNFD-related analysis and reporting.

The platform will continue to expand the geographic coverage of its spatial data layers, progressively extending from the Huzhou pilot to key provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Delta and eventually nationwide. It will also explore additional functions, including quantitative risk assessment, dynamic monitoring, and financing and investment portfolio management, providing financial institutions and companies with more systematic tools to identify and manage nature-related risks.

Nature-related Risk Screening Tool V1.0

Partnerships & Contact

We welcome financial institutions, companies, research institutions, and other partners to engage with us on tool application, data and methodologies, geographic expansion, and joint research.

Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS)

nbs@ifs.net.cn

Huzhou Green Finance Institute (HZGF)

info@hzgf.org.cn

Explore the Tool