TNFD releases the Recommendations for nature-related management and disclosure
On 18 September 2023, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) released its final Recommendations for the corporate management and disclosure of nature-linked risks. The recommendations were developed during a two-year period using an open innovation approach with input from businesses, policymakers, scientists, NGOs and civil society.
The UN Statistics Division (UNSD), serving as a knowledge partner to the TNFD, provided technical guidance and expertise to the task force in measuring nature relations with the economy using the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA).
The TNFD recommendations aim to inform better decision making by companies and financial institutions, and ultimately contribute to a shift in global financial flows toward nature-positive outcomes and the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Rather than creating a new set of standalone metrics and disclosure requirements, the TNFD integrates its work with existing standards and frameworks that companies can use to identify, assess, respond, and disclose their nature-related risks and opportunities (See figure below).
| TNFD’s additional guidance builds on existing frameworks, methods and tools (TNDF,2023) | The architecture for measuring and target setting (TNDF,2023) | |||
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Leveraging on the use and applicability of the SEEA, the TNFD integrates in its recommendations the SEEA, in particular Ecosystem Accounting, ensuring that the definitions of ecosystem extent, condition, and ecosystem services and assets are used by corporations and embedded within the TNDF’s LEAP approach. This approach facilitates the identification and assessment of nature-related issues, with the TNFD recommending the application of SEEA for measuring impact drivers in nature-related issues.
The substantial prior efforts done to align the SEEA with business accounting as a response to the need of businesses to look for ways to measure and value their impacts and dependencies on ecosystems smooth the way for integrating the SEEA into the TNFD.
Find the TNDF press release here.
Publications:
- Executive summary: https://tnfd.global/publication/executive-summary-2/
- Recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures: https://tnfd.global/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Recommendations_of_the_Taskforce_on_Nature-related_Financial_Disclosures_September_2023.pdf
- An accompanying suite of additional guidance is also available:
- Getting Started with adoption of the TNDF recommendations
- Guidance on the identification and assessment of nature-related issues: the LEAP approach
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