NATURE SHARES
320 organisations committing to nature reporting: TNFD announce their list of early adopters
2024’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos is now in full swing, and today we’re thrilled to see the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) announce their inaugural list of 320 early adopters.
Since the initiative was first announced in July 2020 and formally launched the following June, we have been eagerly tracking TNFD’s progress throughout its pilot testing phases, four framework iterations, and final guidance published in September 2023.
As we shift our understanding away from nature falling solely within the realm of corporate social responsibility towards nature as an essential business investment upon which our global economy depends, this announcement is a fundamental milestone.
TNFD will allow businesses to properly integrate nature into their decision making. They’ll be better informed to take actions to reduce their nature-negative impacts, mitigate their nature-related financial risks, and take steps towards becoming nature-positive.
The CEOs of early adopters Ingka Group IKEA and Inter IKEA Group, Jesper Brodin and Jon Abrahamsson Ring, commented:
“We are delighted to become a TNFD early adopter. We see nature-related issues as a strategic business issue and believe the TNFD recommendations and guidance will support us in further assessing risks and opportunities and allowing more targeted positive action. We also know that our future relevance, success and resilience of our business is directly linked to how we address this now, in order to prepare for the future generations."
Why is this announcement so significant?
As we face a global biodiversity crisis, it's important to have a framework in place that will enable businesses to report on their nature-related impacts, risks, and dependencies consistently. The TNFD framework is fully aligned with the goals and targets of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Since it launched in 2015, the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has been instrumental in allowing companies to report on their climate-related impacts and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. This has crucially helped to shift global finance towards climate-positive outcomes.
While the TNFD framework is currently voluntary, we expect it to follow in TCFD’s footsteps and become mandatory in the very near future. This list of early adopters therefore marks these organisations as proactive in their approach to nature and financial strategy – and this kind of approach is so essential if we are to meet our key environmental targets.
Which organisations are we excited to see on the list of early adopters?
The list of 320 early adopters committing to TNFD includes a diverse mix of corporations and institutions across nearly 50 countries, featuring several household names, such as Acer, Breitling, IKEA, Michelin, Yamaha, and Coca-Cola Bottlers.
We’re particularly pleased to see several major organisations based, or operating, in the UK on the list. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted places on Earth. Since 1970, we have seen an average 63% drop in abundance across priority species (The State of Nature 2023), making nature-related reporting and subsequent action vital here.
These UK businesses include AstraZeneca, PwC, Reckitt, GSK, the BBC, and the London Stock Exchange.
No doubt these business will be looking to not only reduce their nature-related impacts, but also take the next steps in becoming nature-positive. This will involve taking action to restore biodiversity that’s already been lost – investing in significant nature restoration projects that will heal our landscapes and help our ecosystems recover.
What else are we looking forward to at the WEF this year?
Environment Bank’s own Chief Ecology Officer, Emma Toovey, will be facilitating a round table discussion at the SDG Tent, Earth Room on Biodiversity Credits at 11am GMT, that's 12pm UTC+1 in Davos, on Wednesday 17th January.
She’ll be taking a look at the experiences we can draw from the carbon market to ensure we have the appropriate mechanisms in place for the voluntary biodiversity market to guarantee integrity, transparency, and effective deployment.
Live stream the session here: https://sdgtent.com/events/biodiversity-credits/