• The TNFD Recommendations are a key milestone in the relationship between nature, business and financial capital, positioning nature risk alongside financial, operational and climate risk and helping to shift capital flows to nature-positive outcomes.
• Present and future cashflows depend on the flow of nature’s inputs to business and accelerating nature loss poses a growing risk to businesses and capital providers.
• The publication of 14 recommended disclosures and a suite of additional implementation guidance marks the culmination of a two-year consultative development process, including pilot testing by over 200 companies and financial institutions.
• The Recommendations are consistent with existing and emerging IFRS and GRI reporting standards and aligned with the requirements of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Companies including GSK have started to announce their intention to adopt the Recommendations, and the TNFD is anticipating more companies to follow from as early as this week, with other companies invited to join the inaugural cohort of TNFD Adopters, which will be announced at the World Economic Forum at Davos

After two years of design and development through an open innovation process, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (‘TNFD’) has published its final Recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure. An accompanying suite of additional guidance has also been released to help market participants get started with integrated assessment and corporate reporting related to nature. The Recommendations aim to inform better decision making by companies and capital providers, and ultimately contribute to a shift in global financial flows toward nature-positive outcomes and the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Led by 40 Taskforce members representing over US$20 trillion in assets under management, the TNFD initiative has drawn on the support and active input of market and non-market stakeholders from almost 60 countries around the world. The release of the TNFD’s 14 Disclosure Recommendations and implementation guidance comes at a critical time, with rapidly growing interest across business and finance globally on nature and biodiversity issues. Policymakers, regulators, asset owners, asset managers and leading global companies are all increasing their focus on nature-related risk management and the necessity of mobilising private sector engagement and finance to tackle nature loss and scale-up nature-based solutions.

The Recommendations build on those of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and are consistent with the global sustainability standards of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the impact materiality approach used by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and incorporated into the new European Sustainability Reporting Standards. This provides reporting organisations with a set of nature-related guidance that enables their reporting requirements across jurisdictions with the different approaches to materiality now in use.

Importantly, the TNFD Recommendations are also aligned with the requirement of Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework for corporate reporting which calls for assessment and disclosure of nature-related risks, impacts, and dependencies, enabling companies to now align their corporate reporting with global policy goals as they are now doing on climate related issues.

David Craig, Co-Chair of the TNFD and founder and former CEO of Refinitiv said: “Nature loss is accelerating, and businesses today are inadequately accounting for nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. Nature-risk is sitting in company cash flows and capital portfolios today. The costs of inaction are mounting quickly. Businesses and financial institutions now have the tools they need to take action. Building on the language, structure and approach of the TCFD and consistent with the ISSB’s sustainability reporting baseline, the adoption of the TNFD Recommendations represent a step-change in the momentum and capacity for business and finance to identify, assess and disclose their exposure to nature-related issues in a manner consistent with climate-related-reporting.”

The TNFD will now encourage and support voluntary market adoption of the Recommendations launched today. Following the example of the TCFD, the TNFD will track voluntary market adoption on an annual basis through an annual status update report beginning in 2024. The TNFD is anticipating companies to start announcing their intention to adopt the Recommendations from as early as this week. At TNFD’s final Recommendations launch event today, GSK announced they are committed to publishing their first TNFD disclosures from 2026, based on 2025 data. Others are anticipated to signal similar intentions in the coming weeks and the TNFD will announce an inaugural list of TNFD Adopters – companies that have indicated their intention to start adopting the Recommendations – at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2024.

The delivery of the Recommendations follows extensive global engagement by market participants, scientific and standards organisations and other stakeholders in their design and development. The TNFD’s open innovation approach crowded-in the expertise of 19 knowledge partners, input from over 1,200 institutions in the TNFD Forum from almost 60 countries and territories; and included pilot testing by over 200 companies and financial institutions across sector, biomes and geographies. Through the release of four successive releases of a prototype framework, the Taskforce received over 3,000 pieces of feedback from across the market, science, policymaking and regulators, NGOs and Civil Society Organisations and others. National or regional consultation groups around the world have played a key role in mobilising market participation, including four new groups announced today in Canada, Kenya, South Africa and the United States.

The full press release can be read here.

Source: TFND