Partnership brings together senior expertise in nature risk and scalable environmental analytics to support portfolio-level risk assessment and resilience planning.
18 June 2026, Edinburgh – Earth Blox, the environmental intelligence company that translates nature and climate data into insights for business decision-making, and Daniel O'Brien, a strategic sustainability advisor, former PwC Global Nature Leader and former member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), today announced a partnership focused on the North American financial services market.
The partnership will provide financial institutions with the expertise and environmental intelligence needed to quantify nature-related risks across lending and investment portfolios, supporting more informed decisions on risk management, capital allocation and portfolio resilience.
As nature-related risks move up the agenda for investors, banks and regulators, financial institutions are under increasing pressure to understand how biodiversity loss, land-use change, water stress and climate hazards may affect portfolio performance. Yet many organisations continue to face challenges translating complex environmental data into consistent, decision-useful insight that can be applied across large and diverse portfolios.
The partnership combines O'Brien's experience advising global organisations, governments and investors on climate, biodiversity and nature-related risks with Earth Blox's environmental datasets, geospatial analytics and dynamic state-of-nature monitoring that enable financial institutions to understand ecosystem condition, change and emerging environmental pressures across portfolios. Together, they will enable financial institutions to identify, assess and quantify nature-related exposures at scale, while translating environmental indicators into evidence-based insights on business impacts, risk pathways and management responses.
Dr Genevieve Patenaude, CEO and Founder of Earth Blox, said:
"Financial institutions need practical ways to understand where nature-related risks sit across their portfolios and what those risks mean for business resilience, capital allocation and long-term value. Daniel brings deep experience in helping organisations navigate this evolving area, while Earth Blox provides the scalable analysis needed to turn environmental data into actionable insight. Together, we can support financial institutions as they integrate nature risk into the way they assess clients, portfolios and future exposure."
Daniel O'Brien said:
"Banks and investors increasingly have access to environmental data but still struggle to determine what is material, how risks may evolve over time, and where management attention should be focused. Earth Blox provides an exceptional capability for monitoring environmental conditions and generating state-of-nature metrics at scale. By combining that capability with evidence-based interpretation, risk assessment methodologies and knowledge systems, we can help financial institutions turn environmental metrics into intelligence that support informed risk management to create resilient portfolios that create long-term value."
The announcement follows a period of significant growth for Earth Blox. In March 2026, the company secured £6 million in new investment led by PXN Ventures with support from Scottish Enterprise, Archangels and the European Space Agency, and appointed former PwC Nature Analytics leader Ben Matthews as Director of Nature and Climate. Earth Blox's customers include banks, consumer brands, energy companies and agribusinesses.
Daniel O'Brien is a strategic sustainability advisor with more than 20 years of experience helping global organisations, governments and financial institutions address climate, biodiversity and nature-related risks. He previously served as PwC Global Nature Leader and was a member of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), where he contributed to the development of approaches for assessing and reporting nature-related risks. Daniel advises organisations on nature strategy, governance, disclosure and sustainable finance.
.png)