Case study: Banco Bolivariano uses ENCORE to help assess risk and access opportunities

Case study: Banco Bolivariano uses ENCORE to help assess nature-related risks and access opportunities

Company name: Banco Bolivariano
Headquartered: Guayaquil, Ecuador
Date: 2026

This case study shows how Ecuadorian bank Banco Bolivariano is using ENCORE to help assess and manage nature-related financial risk and access sustainable financing opportunities.

Banco Bolivariano uses ENCORE as part of its environmental and social risk management system, known as SARAS (Sistema de Administración de Riesgo Ambiental y Social), and to support nature risk reporting following the recommendations and guidance of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

Integrating these risk management and assessment frameworks has enabled the bank to access nature-related opportunities by collaborating with development banks to issue sustainable bonds.

The case for assessing nature

Banco Bolivariano is Ecuador’s fifth largest private bank and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking. Its lending and investment portfolio is closely aligned with the Ecuadorian economy, with long-standing investments in sectors with high exposure to nature risk such as aquaculture and agriculture. Many of these sectors are critical to Ecuador’s economic development. The country’s marine territory is five-and-a-half times larger than its land territory, with major exports linked to fisheries and aquaculture. Farmed shrimp, for example, has been the country’s largest export in recent years, generating more than USD 7.5 billion in exports in 2025.

Banco Bolivariano recognizes that dependencies and impacts on nature can give rise to nature-related risks for the businesses it finances. At the same time, global demand to protect nature and nature-dependent economies has created opportunities for the bank. In 2022, it partnered with two development banks to issue an USD 80 million ‘blue bond’, focused on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

To meet conditions linked to this bond, Banco Bolivariano is required to assess nature-related risk through its environmental and social risk management system (SARAS) and to report in line with the recommendations and guidance of the TNFD. Compliance with these and other sustainability-related conditions is linked to a financial incentive for Banco Bolivariano, specifically a 20-basis-point reduction in the interest rate.

While this benefit applied only to the blue bond, the implementation of TNFD and SARAS opened the door to new opportunities, most notably the development of Banco Bolivariano’s second thematic bond, a USD 120 million ‘biodiversity bond’ issued from 2025 onwards.

How Banco Bolivariano applies ENCORE to assess and manage nature risk

Banco Bolivariano has built capacity on nature risk assessment using the TNFD’s LEAP (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare) approach supported by a range of tools and datasets including ENCORE, the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter and Global Forest Watch.

1. Using ENCORE for SARAS and client engagement

Credit applications for Banco Bolivariano’s sustainability bonds are subject to its environmental and social risk management system (SARAS). To assess nature risk under SARAS, Banco Bolivariano applies elements of the TNFD’s LEAP approach (Figure 1).

• For the Locate phases (L3: Interface with nature and L4: Interface with sensitive locations), project operations and value chains are assessed against regional datasets on potentially sensitive locations, such as protected areas or areas important for the delivery of ecosystem service benefits.
• In the Evaluate phases (E2: Identification of dependencies and impacts and E3: Dependency and impact measurement), ENCORE is used as a starting point to identify potential dependencies and pressures for each asset based on its sector classification. ENCORE materiality ratings are used to identify which dependencies and pressures are likely to be most material for the bank’s clients.

Figure 1. Chart provided by Banco Bolivariano (personal communication, 2026) highlighting the four elements of the LEAP approach (L3, L4, E2 and E3) that are applied to its SARAS assessments. An English language version of the above chart can be found on p.4 of the TNFD’s 2023 LEAP guidance.

These assessments identify key risks and opportunities for each client, determine eligibility for sustainable financing and inform tailored action plans, which include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) clients must report against to comply with sustainable loan conditions. Banco Bolivariano’s blue and biodiversity frameworks incorporate indicators on emissions, pollution, land and resource use and sustainable certification, which are also used to assess the overall impact of sustainable bonds (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Table showing KPIs for the environmental and social impacts of blue bond projects under the seafood category from Banco Bolivariano’s 2024 Blue Bond Report.

2. Using ENCORE for TNFD-aligned assessment and reporting

Banco Bolivariano published its first climate and nature risk report in 2025, following the recommendations and guidance of the TNFD and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

As part of the assessment, Banco Bolivariano conducted a heatmapping exercise using ENCORE to assess the extent to which different sectors in its portfolio depend on ecosystem services and exert pressures on nature. The sample heatmap below shows sector dependencies on fibres and other materials, ground water, surface water, soil quality, water flow and water quality. Further analysis identified key nature-related risks and opportunities. This process was supported by client interviews, document reviews and tools such as ENCORE and the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter.

Figure 3. Sample heatmap from Banco Bolivariano’s 2025 climate and nature risk report showing how different sectors in its portfolio depend on ecosystem services for the provision of fibres and other materials, ground water, surface water, soil quality, water flow and water quality. This analysis used the 2018-2023 version of ENCORE.

Banco Bolivariano’s LEAP assessment identified four priority sectors: aquaculture, forestry, agriculture and commerce. The bank also identified three priority territories: coastal and aquaculture regions, agricultural regions and regions at risk of flooding. These priority sectors and territories will help guide the bank’s nature risk management and its deployment of SARAS and sustainable financing going forward.

Going forward: Banco Bolivariano is building on its nature risk strategy

Banco Bolivariano’s nature risk strategy combines: (1) portfolio-level assessments and disclosure to identify material risks and opportunities; (2) transaction-level assessments to guide client engagement and action plans; and (3) sustainable finance instruments to incentivize action. The bank is continuing to build on each of these areas.

1. At the portfolio level, it plans to expand its implementation of the TNFD LEAP approach to include risk quantification and scenario analysis.
2. At the transaction level, SARAS is being scaled to cover more clients, focusing on priority sectors and geographies identified through the TNFD LEAP assessment.
3. At the financing level, Banco Bolivariano will continue to issue and explore sustainable finance solutions, including the rollout of its biodiversity bond in 2026.

Banco Bolivariano is one of hundreds of organizations using ENCORE to support the assessment and management of nature-related financial risks. To find out more about how the tool is being used in Latin America read our case studies on Davivienda and SARAS in Colombia. ENCORE was developed by Global Canopy, UNEP FI and UNEP-WCMC and can be found here.

Many thanks to Carlos Santos and Melina Sáenz from Banco Bolivariano’s Environmental and Social Risk team for their support with this case study.

Photo by Camilo Ayo on Unsplash