The international team of company leaders working to draw up a definitive framework for organisations to quantify, manage and report their impact on the natural world today released the final stage of its work in progress, ahead of the actual recommendations due out in September.
David Craig, co-chair of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), said: “This fourth and final draft of the TNFD framework will provide market participants, for the first time, with a full representation of the core aspects of the proposed TNFD framework, including examples of additional guidance by sector and biome and a recommended set of disclosure metrics.”
The TNFD, set up in June 2021 to develop an integrated risk-management and disclosure framework for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks, has been gradually coming out with beta versions of the recommendations as it draws them up following feedback and the results of pilot testing.
The body said the ultimate aim of its work was to support a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes.
Craig said this fourth draft of the framework was the culmination of much work to bring a science-based approach, but make the complexity of the science of nature accessible and relevant to market participants.
“We are delighted by the level of active participation from the market, including pilot testers, throughout this design and development phase which will help to underpin strong market support when the final recommendations are published in September,” he said.
Feedback from market participants and other stakeholders since the release of the third beta version had broadly endorsed the three core elements of the draft framework, the panel said. These elements are the core concepts and definitions; the proposed risk and opportunity assessment approach, and the draft disclosure recommendations aligned with those of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
“That feedback has informed changes to this latest evolution, including to the proposed risk and opportunity assessment process and reducing the proposed disclosure metrics from 15 to 14,” a spokesman for the panel said.
The Taskforce consists of 34 senior executives from financial institutions, corporates and market service providers, representing sectors with the biggest impacts and dependencies on nature, including agribusiness and infrastructure.
The international panel says that, like the TCFD, the TNFD is developing a global framework for risk management and disclosure, not a standard.
It is designed to inform relevant standards such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
The new draft will now be out for consultation from 30 March to 1 June.
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