3. Biodiversity and ecosystems (ESRS E4)
3.1 Biodiversity and ecosystems in investment
3.1.1 Material impacts, risks and opportunities and their interaction with strategy and business model (ESRS 2 SBM-3) and description of processes to identify and assess material biodiversity and ecosystem-related impacts, risks and opportunities (ESRS 2 IRO-1)
Biodiversity, which encompasses the diversity of species, ecosystems and genetic resources, is essential to the resilience of natural systems and the global economy. Ecosystems provide services such as carbon storage, water purification, pollination, and climate regulation – all of which support business continuity and long-term value creation. Nevertheless, biodiversity is declining rapidly. For investors, biodiversity loss represents both a systemic risk and a source of potential disruption. Environmental degradation can impact supply chains, increase operating costs and expose companies to regulatory and reputational risks. As part of its materiality assessment, UNIQA has identified potential negative material impacts to biodiversity in relation to companies in which UNIQA invests.
UNIQA’s investment portfolio was initially analysed using biodiversity data from the external data provider ISS as part of the materiality assessment. To gain a deeper understanding of the portfolio’s dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, an additional analysis was conducted using publicly available data from ENCORE (Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risks, and Exposure). ENCORE provides sector-specific data for biodiversity-related impacts and dependencies. Based on this data, the investment portfolio was examined to identify sectors that either have a material negative impact on biodiversity or are highly dependent on it. Companies in the mining, construction and energy supply sectors were found to have the greatest impact on biodiversity, while companies from the hospitality sector, in particular, demonstrated high dependencies on biodiversity. An analysis of impacts and dependencies on biodiversity sub-topics such as land degradation, desertification and soil sealing has not been conducted.
3.1.2 Transition plan and consideration of biodiversity and ecosystems in strategy and business model (E4-1)
Based on these analyses, biodiversity was identified as material to UNIQA’s investment strategy for the first time in 2025. In view of the importance of the topic and the risks associated with it, UNIQA has integrated biodiversity aspects into its investment approach. UNIQA currently has no transition plan in relation to biodiversity.
3.1.3 Policies related to biodiversity and ecosystems (E4-2)
The UNIQA Group’s Responsible Investment Guideline provides for the integration of ESG criteria into investment decisions. To date, UNIQA has focused on climate change, while biodiversity-related issues have largely been taken into account through the elimination of norm violations, including serious environmental damage. Once biodiversity was classified as material, UNIQA started monitoring investments in companies with negative impacts on biodiversity-sensitive areas.
3.1.4 Actions and resources related to biodiversity and ecosystems (E4-3)
In 2025, UNIQA joined a collaborative biodiversity engagement initiative organised and led by ISS. As part of this engagement, ISS selects companies from sectors with material impacts or dependencies on biodiversity, including the food sector, the oil and gas industry and mining. The engagement process aims to integrate biodiversity-related aspects into corporate strategies, reduce negative impacts of business activity and improve the reporting of biodiversity-related data. These engagements are long-term and involve recurrent interactions with the companies over the course of several years.
In addition to the sector-specific analysis with ENCORE, UNIQA monitors its exposure to companies that ISS has classified as having a negative impact on biodiversity-sensitive regions and that have not taken action to mitigate the corresponding negative impact.
Negative impacts are defined by ISS as a specific controversy involving a credible allegation or proven instance of corporate misconduct in which the investee company is directly involved and for which it has not taken any remedial actions.
The indicator also covers biodiversity-sensitive regions, including areas protected under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
This indicator is an important and standardised measure for monitoring the impacts of investments on biodiversity and is widely recognised because it has been included as a key indicator in the European Union’s reporting on principal adverse impacts (PAIs) under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
Due to its relevance for assessing risks and impacts related to biodiversity, UNIQA has identified this indicator as a key metric for the development of its biodiversity investment strategy.
3.1.5 Targets related to biodiversity and ecosystems (E4-4)
UNIQA has not yet defined any portfolio-wide biodiversity targets. The current focus is on building a thorough understanding of biodiversity dependencies and impacts as a first step. As outlined above, UNIQA has begun to monitor its exposure to investments in companies with negative impacts on biodiversity-sensitive areas and to participate in a collaborative engagement initiative to create a stable basis that will allow meaningful and ideally evidence-based targets to be set in the future.
3.1.6 Impact metrics related to biodiversity and ecosystems change (E4-5)
UNIQA monitors its portfolio for investments in companies that have a negative impact on biodiversity-sensitive regions using the ISS metric described above. As of the reporting date, there was no exposure to any corresponding companies based on this indicator.