Global characteristics of investments in economic
sectors associated with anthropogenic land-use changes in known zoonotic
disease hotspots (ie, areas with increased zoonotic emerging and re-emerging
infectious diseases risks) and investment size in US$. Credit: Stockholm
Resilience Centre/The Lancet Planetary Health
Many emerging
and re-emerging infectious diseases, especially zoonotic diseases such as Ebola
or new coronaviruses, emerge as the result of intensified human activities such
as deforestation, expansion of agricultural land, and increased hunting and
trading of wildlife.
In a new study, published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, researchers
identified public and private companies operating in economic sectors associated with increased risks of emerging and re-emerging
infectious diseases.
Where data was available, the researchers analyzed the
financial entities with equity ownership in 99 identified public companies.
They found that a handful of largely US-based financial entities, including
Vanguard, State Street, BlackRock, and T Rowe Price, have substantial
investments in these companies. But even public investors such as the state of
California, Norway through its Sovereign Wealth Fund, and Sweden through its
pension funds, hold shares in companies that operate in known regional hotspots
for emerging infectious diseases.
"Financial actors have an important, but often ignored, role to help prevent the emergence of infectious diseases. Their investments enable economic activities in known zoonotic disease hotspots globally. Large investors hold potential influence over companies operating in these hotspots, and this influence could be leveraged to mitigate risks of new pandemics," says Victor Galaz, lead author of the study and senior researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University.
Global characteristics of investments in economic
sectors associated with anthropogenic land-use changes in known zoonotic
disease hotspots (ie, areas with increased zoonotic emerging and re-emerging
infectious diseases risks). Credit: Stockholm Resilience Centre
In the article, the researchers list a number of policies and practices
that investors could push for, including ecological restoration measures, the
creation of pathogen surveillance systems, and improvements in the health and
economic security of communities living in geographical hotspots of emerging
and re-emerging infectious diseases.
"Corporate policies that focus only on deforestation and land-use
change are not enough to mitigate the risk of emerging and re-emerging
infectious diseases. They fail to consider how agricultural expansion and
deforestation increase the risk of pathogen spillover from reservoir to hosts.
There is a need for policies to reduce the edge effect, create pathogen
surveillance systems and improve the health care systems of communities living
in areas that are emerging infectious hotspots," explains Paula A. Sánchez,
researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Center and co-author of the study.
The study even identifies countries that either invest themselves or host
headquarters of companies with investments in hotspots for emerging infectious
diseases. These countries, including France, the U.S., Portugal, Norway, and
Sweden, could work together to use financial influence to address the risks of
outbreaks and pandemics, according to the study's authors.
"Among many other devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has
shown what enormous economic costs infectious diseases can have. Investing in
sectors that could lead to new outbreaks therefore also carries significant
financial risks that investors and governments need to proactively
address," explains Victor Galaz.
He continues, "Such efforts have to go beyond current environmental,
social, and governance metrics which have proven to be insufficient to show
real-world ecological effects."
Data availability continues to be a limitation for the identification of
potential alliances among investors and corporate actors.
"As emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases present a global risk
to the economic and financial systems, there is a need to ensure
standardized reporting of corporate and investment activities in infectious
hotspots to reduce the risk of outbreaks at a global scale," says Paula A.
Sánchez.
Peter Søgaard Jørgensen, another co-author associated with the Stockholm Resilience Center says, "Climate change will increase the risks of new zoonotic outbreaks. Financial actors should make sure that their investments help to mitigate and adapt to those risks."
by Stockholm Resilience Centre
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