Driving nature-positive finance: an analysis of biodiversity transparency in European banking

Purpose The growing societal and regulatory emphasis on biodiversity preservation has heightened expectations for corporate transparency, positioning biodiversity disclosure as a critical component of non-financial reporting. While academic interest in sustainability disclosure is rising, biodiversity remains an underexplored dimension, particularly in the financial sector, despite its direct and indirect influence on ecosystems. This study, adopting the lens of stakeholder theory, addresses this gap by investigating biodiversity disclosure practices within the European banking sector and examining whether specific bank characteristics – namely size, internationalization, age, and online visibility – affect the extent of disclosure. Design/methodology/approach A manual content analysis was conducted on the official websites of 131 European banks, using a biodiversity disclosure index specifically designed to assess reporting practices across multiple biodiversity-related dimensions. An Ordinary Least Squares regression model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results reveal that banks disclose a limited amount of biodiversity-related information through their official websites, indicating that biodiversity remains a marginal component of their sustainability communication strategies. The econometric analysis further shows that bank size, internationalization, and online visibility positively influence the extent of biodiversity disclosure, whereas age does not exert a significant effect. Originality/value This study advances the academic debate on the nexus between finance and biodiversity by showing how banks, through disclosure practices, can act as catalysts for biodiversity protection and awareness. It enriches the sustainability disclosure literature by focusing on biodiversity reporting, a dimension still largely neglected in the banking sector. Furthermore, it highlights how internal structural characteristics influence the extent of biodiversity-related information disclosed, underscores the role of websites as strategic tools for online accountability, and reinforces the explanatory power of stakeholder theory in explaining biodiversity disclosure practices within banks, thereby offering new insights into the interplay between financial institutions, sustainability communication, and strategies for biodiversity preservation.