BIOPATH profile portraits: Sara Jonsson

Sara Jonsson, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University.
Photo: Johanna Säll

Sara Jonsson is Associate professor and Senior lecturer in Finance at Stockholm Business School. Here is an overview of her work as a researcher in Sustainable Finance, especially in Mistra BIOPATH WP2 and how it aligns with the impact pathways of Mistra BIOPATH.

 
What topics are most interesting in your research field at the moment?

In sustainable finance, current research is increasingly focused on how biodiversity loss translates into financial risks and corporate responses. Emerging topics include biodiversity footprint accounting, integration of biodiversity into ESG and risk management frameworks, and the financial implications of nature-related disclosure initiatives (such as TNFD). There is also growing attention to how firms’ biodiversity dependencies affect their resilience and long-term valuation.

How does your research align with the impact pathways in Mistra BIOPATH?

My research contributes to BIOPATH’s “Scientific Novelty” and “Understanding & Awareness” impact pathways. It develops empirical evidence on how biodiversity risks influence firm and investor behavior as well as financial performance, helping bridge the gap between ecological impact metrics and financial decision-making (WP2). The findings also support policy and capacity-building by showing how corporate incentives can be aligned with biodiversity goals, which are important for integrating biodiversity considerations into financial and governance systems.

Tell us about your research journey ?

My research journey began with an interest in how environmental risks are priced in financial markets. Over time, this evolved toward biodiversity as a frontier issue, an area with need for better data, metrics, and economic interpretation. Within BIOPATH, I have focused on connecting firm-level biodiversity exposure with corporate sustainability actions, using large-scale text and financial data to uncover behavioral patterns that can inform both investors and policymakers.

What are the additional values of working in an interdisciplinary research programme?

BIOPATH’s interdisciplinary setup provides an exceptional environment to combine ecological science, economics, and data analytics. Collaborating with biologists, policy experts, and financial practitioners helps ensure that the models we build are both scientifically sound and practically relevant.

In what ways do you interact with or collaborate with external stakeholders in your research?

I engage with external stakeholders primarily through knowledge exchange and capacity-building activities. In particular, I helped organise and deliver a workshop on biodiversity data during Mistra BIOPATH’s annual meeting, aimed at practitioners from the financial and corporate sectors. The workshop focused on the challenges and opportunities in using biodiversity data for risk assessment and investment decisions. I have also presented our research findings during these events.