The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has selected senior executives from across thirty financial institutions to serve as members of a taskforce which will build a nature-related risks framework for the industry.
They include senior figures from Bank of America, BlackRock, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and UBS, alongside numerous other well-known firms. Selection of a further five is currently underway.
The TNFD said its members had been selected for their sector and geographical coverage, as well as individual subject matter expertise across nature and finance.
Each taskforce member will be part of at least one of five initial working groups to create the TNFD framework.
They include defining nature-related risks; data availability; landscape of standards and metrics; development of a beta framework; and pilot testing and integration.
Although the finalised framework is not expected until late 2023, a draft beta version will be circulated by the taskforce early next year.
It is co-chaired by UN assistant secretary general and executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Elizabeth Mrema, and London Stock Exchange Group strategic adviser David Craig.
Members of the TNFD taskforce will convene for the first-time next week to begin work on developing and delivering a risk management and financial disclosure framework to support what it terms “a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes”.
The TNFD is an UN-backed initiative, which aims to replicate the success of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
The goal is to develop “voluntary, consistent disclosures to help corporates, investors, lenders and insurance underwriters manage nature-related risks”.
Co-chairs Mrema and Craig said: “We are looking forward to immediately starting the work with our taskforce members. The business and financial world’s race towards net-zero emissions will only succeed if they race equally fast towards nature-positivity.
They added, “While the importance and urgency of our work is clear, so is the complexity of the challenge ahead for the TNFD. The TNFD initiative is by the market for the market.
Therefore, development of a practical framework for nature-related risks will only be achievable by bringing together market practitioners and experts in biodiversity, data, metrics and standards, risk management and disclosure frameworks into a unique collaborative endeavour.”
More than 100 institutions have also signed up to provide support to the 30-strong taskforce through a broader consultative group, the TNFD Forum, and can be called upon to contribute to the direct work if needed.
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