The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has added 96 organisations to its list of adopters. In total, 416 organisations from around the world have committed to disclose their material nature-related issues to investors and other stakeholders, according to a June 28 announcement.
TNFD announced at London Climate Action Week a 30% increase in adopters of their corporate reporting recommendations since January, while releasing a suite of sector guidance, including recommended sector-specific disclosure metrics, to support reporting by companies and financial institutions.
Organisations in eight “real economy” sectors can now refer to TNFD’s tailored guidance to issue their own nature-related disclosures. They are: aquaculture, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electric utilities and power generators, food and agriculture, forestry and paper, metals and mining, and oil and gas.
TNFD also released additional guidance for financial institutions, which aims to help banks, insurers, reinsurers, asset managers, asset owners and development finance institutions issue their own nature-related disclosures.
Finally, TNFD’s additional guidance on value chains details how organisations can approach analysis of their upstream and downstream value chains. According to TNFD, it outlines value chain characteristics that can create challenges assessing nature-related issues and how organisations can approach these issues.
See also: CDL, UOB among 320 organisations that pledge to make nature-related disclosures by FY2025
New adopters
TNFD’s 416 adopters come from over 50 jurisdictions and across 62 of 77 Sustainable Industry Classification System (SICS) sectors. Of the list, publicly-listed companies represent over US$6 trillion ($8.13 trillion) in market capitalisation, a 50% increase since the TNFD’s last announcement in January.
The announcement then named five local firms that had committed to issuing nature-related disclosures, including City Developments Limited C09 (CDL), United Overseas Bank U11 (UOB) and Olam Agri. This “first cohort” of 320 organisations pledged to adopt the TNFD’s recommendations, which were published in September 2023.
See also: TNFD framework launch floats nature-related risks to corporates' attention
The latest list of adopters includes 114 financial institutions, which collectively represent US$15.9 trillion in assets under management, including 25% of the world’s systemically important banks (GSIBs).
Among the new adopters are financial institutions LGIM, Generation Investment Management and MUFG Asset Management; global car maker Volvo; digital services firm Ricoh; and dairy products manufacturer China Mengniu Dairy.
These organisations have signalled their intention to begin adopting the TNFD recommendations and publishing TNFD-aligned disclosures as part of their annual corporate reporting by FY2025.
David Craig, co-chair of the TNFD, says: “The ongoing uptake of the TNFD’s recommendations is further evidence that the mindset in business and finance is quickly shifting to a recognition that accelerating nature loss is imposing costs and risks on society as a whole as well as to individual business models and capital portfolios.”
Voluntary uptake now of the TNFD recommendations is the “best way” to meet these shifting expectations and new regulatory requirements, Craig adds. “We are delighted that organisations globally are also using TNFD to prepare for the forthcoming expansion of the global sustainability reporting baseline now that the ISSB has commenced its important work on nature building on the recommendations of the Taskforce.”
CDL joins Taskforce, SGX to exit
The TNFD also announced an update to its Taskforce members, with Singapore’s CDL replacing the Singapore Exchange S68 (SGX).
CDL was announced in January as an early adopter of the TNFD. In March, CDL became the first company in Singapore to publish TNFD-aligned disclosures.
CDL will be represented on the Taskforce by its chief sustainability officer Esther An, who also serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of GRI.
SGX Group will be stepping down from the Taskforce, having served as a member since September 2021.
An says: “I am honoured to be joining the Taskforce to promote the reporting of nature-related impact, risks and opportunities for businesses. CDL takes pride in being the first Singapore company to voluntarily report according to the TNFD recommendations. TNFD complements CDL’s sustainability reporting framework built up since 2008, anchoring on two pillars: financial value and impact on the environment and people.”
Earlier this week, CDL announced it had secured a $400 million sustainability-linked loan (SLL) from DBS Bank, with nature conservation targets aligned with TNFD’s recommendations.
The SLL is the first of its kind and incorporates specific performance targets related to biodiversity conservation, waste management and water efficiency. According to a June 25 announcement, the proceeds will be used for general corporate funding and working capital purposes, including the redevelopment of CDL’s existing assets.
TNFD was established in June 2021 with the support of G20 and G7 governments. TNFD published its corporate reporting recommendations on nature-related issues in September 2023 after a two-year process led by the Taskforce’s 40 members and supported by 20 knowledge partners.
TNFD has published its 14 disclosure recommendations — along with a guidance document — for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. These “drivers of nature change” include climate change, pollution and use of land, freshwater and ocean, among others.
Infographic: TNFD
Photo: CDL
