Finance for Biodiversity welcomes the release of TNFD’s Final Recommendations and Getting Started Guide
18 September 2023 – Finance for Biodiversity welcomes the release of the final recommendations and the unveiling of the “Getting Started Guide” by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) during Climate Week NYC on September 18th. This significant milestone follows two years of extensive market-driven design and development, four beta releases, and thorough analysis and feedback incorporation, culminating in the release of these nature guidelines.
Anita de Horde, Executive Director of Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, expresses her congratulations to the TNFD team, emphasising the momentous impact of these final recommendations on investors and financial institutions seeking enhanced nature-related insights from their invested companies. “The final recommendations represent a big step forward for financial institutions eager for more comprehensive information regarding the environmental impact of the companies they support,” she says.
Getting Started Guide
The “Getting Started Guide” of TNFD is supported by and developed with participation from the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation and its members. This supplementary resource aims to assist a diverse range of organisations in initiating the identification, assessment, management, and disclosure of their material nature-related issues. It comprises seven key steps, including fostering a deeper understanding of nature and leveraging existing resources to promote collective progress through engagement.
The members of FfB Foundation’s sub-working group on TNFD gave previous feedback on the consultation of the framework and also reviewed the Getting Started Guide.
Charlotte Apps, Sustainable Investing Associate at Fidelity International: “The TNFD marks an important milestone in helping to address nature loss, providing organisations with a risk management and disclosure framework to facilitate clear and consistent disclosures on nature. We encourage all organisations to leverage the guidance to get started on disclosing in line with TNFD recommendations, to help in accelerating the nature transition.”
Rashila Kerai, Biodiversity Specialist at Robeco, who played a role in reviewing this guidance, says: “The TNFD is an important framework for companies to assess and disclose their nature-related risks and opportunities and we welcome the sector-specific guidance to support companies focus on the material issues. We encourage all companies to use the guidelines to assess their nature-related issues and the Getting Started Guide is a useful resource to help enable the assessment and disclosure process”.
About TNFD
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) provides a comprehensive risk management and disclosure framework for organizations, enabling them to report on and address evolving nature-related risks. This framework supports a global shift in financial flows, redirecting them from nature-negative to nature-positive outcomes.
It’s important to note that TNFD disclosures are currently voluntary. However, there is a strong likelihood that their recommendations will be embraced by regulators in the future, mirroring the trajectory of the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which now informs mandatory climate regulations in an increasing number of jurisdictions.