Dear all, the Department of Economics of Ca' Foscari University of Venice organizes the following online seminar on*Friday, November 28 at 12:15 (ZOOM only)* by *Guglielmo Alessandro Visentin* (University of Reading) *The Financial Cost of Biodiversity Loss for SMEs *(joint with Lisa Schopohl and Simone Varotto) /Abstract:  In this study, we investigate the impact of biodiversity loss on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Leveraging firms’ financial information and postcodes from Moody’s Bureau van Dijk and the Biodiversity Intactness Index – a geospatial dataset developed by the Natural History Museum – we geo-locate SMEs, quantify biodiversity loss in the area where firms operate, and assess their exposure to biodiversity-related risks over time. We then employ a fixed effects regression model to estimate the effect of biodiversity loss on firm performance. Our findings indicate that a one-standard-deviation decline in biodiversity leads to a statistically significant reduction in firm operating income by 0.59 percentage points. This impact is economically meaningful when benchmarked against the sample’s average operating income. Moreover, SMEs located in more ecologically degraded areas are found to be more exposed to biodiversity-related risks. We also provide evidence of the materiality of dependency risk, while transition risk appears to be non-material within the UK context. The results remain robust across various econometric specifications and when controlling for climate risk factors./ / / The Zoom link is: *https://unive.zoom.us/j/81355902934?pwd=4UWO6ugBkddwqj1v3RCbMNzPhOpIIh.1 ID riunione: 813 5590 2934 Passcode: dN548g */ / More information available here <https://www.unive.it/data/agenda/3/108966>/. / Best regards, Antonella Basso -- Antonella Basso Dipartimento di Economia Università Ca' Foscari Venezia Fondamenta S. Giobbe - Cannaregio 873 30121 Venezia - Italy Tel. +39-041-2346914 E-mail address:basso@unive.it Web page:https://www.unive.it/data/persone/5591751