Asset manager Cardano (formerly ACTIAM) has entered into a partnership with geodata analytics company Satelligence. Based on satellite imagery combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Satelligence provides continuously updated information on global deforestation, trends, and causes. This makes the actual impact of companies on their natural environment visible. As a result, Cardano is even better equipped to integrate sustainability data into its investment policy. Through this collaboration, Cardano has an additional tool at its disposal in the battle against deforestation.

The battle against deforestation is a focus within the investment policy

Within its investment policy, Cardano focuses on three key themes: climate, water, and land. The asset manager has set a goal, among others, for the investment portfolio not to contribute to deforestation by 2030. Cardano explicitly commits to the realization of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Deforestation significantly contributes to the growing emissions of greenhouse gases and thus to climate change. It is therefore necessary for asset managers to promote greater transparency and clear policies regarding deforestation through intensive dialogue with the companies in which they invest.

Dennis van der Putten, Chief Sustainability Officer at Cardano, states: “Combating deforestation is crucial for achieving both financial and societal returns and for risk management within the investment portfolio. However, data availability on this topic is still in its infancy. Satelligence enables us, through its global reach, to make even more informed investment decisions based on real-time data, be accountable to our clients regarding these decisions, and simultaneously achieve our goals. Cardano sees a fiduciary role for the financial sector in leading the transition to a sustainable society. Technology is the primary driver for change in the sector.

Artificial Intelligence and deforestation

Through data analysis provided by Satelligence, Cardano can detect and quantify changes in vegetation cover resulting from plantation development or fire damage in forests, wetlands, and other natural areas. This detection is based on radar and optical satellite imagery combined with Artificial Intelligence.

Niels Wielaard, Managing Director of Satelligence, says: “Deforestation is identified by, among others, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as a significant sustainability risk for the financial sector. We assist financial institutions in identifying and, where possible, mitigating risks such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and water scarcity. Through collaboration with Cardano, we can demonstrate how progress can be measured and how the financial sector can directly understand its impact.”

About Satelligence

Satelligence maps the performance of global agricultural production and associated risks such as deforestation, wildfires, and floods on a daily basis using satellite data (optical and radar) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Information about locations where illegal tropical logging is threatened or occurring is crucial for intervention. Major agro-commodity and food organizations can independently demonstrate their efforts to make their (global) supply chains sustainable and free from deforestation. Financial institutions can showcase their informed sustainable investments that do not compromise valuable tropical forest areas. The applied methods have been developed in collaboration with scientists from institutions such as Wageningen University. The Satelligence team operates from Utrecht, Jakarta, Accra, and La Paz.