Legal & General Investment Management, Generation Investment Management and MUFG Asset Management are among the latest organisations adopting the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ (TNFD) reporting recommendations.
Announced at London Climate Action Week, another 96 organisations have committed to disclose their material nature-related issues to investors and other stakeholders, bringing the total number of companies to do so up to 416 – a 30% increase.
Some 114 financial institutions are now registered as TNFD adopters, representing $15.9trn in assets under management. This includes 25% of the world’s systemically important banks. Meanwhile, the number of publicly listed companies that have adopted the recommendations now represents over $6trn in market capitalisation, an increase of 50% since the TNFD’s early adopter announcement in January. The latest adoptee’s in this space include Volvo, Ricoh and China Mengniu Dairy.
David Craig, co-chair of the TNFD, said: “The ongoing uptake of the TNFD’s recommendations is further evidence 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 the best way to meet new regulatory requirements such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
“We are delighted organisations globally are also using TNFD to prepare for the forthcoming expansion of the global sustainability reporting baseline now that the International Sustainability Standards Board has commenced its important work on nature building on the recommendations of the Taskforce.”
Further sector guidance
Elsewhere, the Taskforce launched its first set of additional sector guidance covering eight real economy sectors. The guidance includes recommended sector-specific metrics for disclosure in line with the TNFD disclosure recommendations published in September 2023.
The sectors covered by the additional sector guidance include:
- Aquaculture
- Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals
- Chemicals
- Electric utilities and power generators
- Food and agriculture
- Foresty and paper
- Metals and mining
- Oil and gas
Duncan Wanblad, chief executive of multi-national mining company, Anglo American, said: “As a Taskforce Member and early adopter of TNFD, and as a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals, we were pleased to play an active role in the development of the sector guidance for Metals and Mining, representing another important milestone in the progression of TNFD and a significant contribution to the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 15.
“Our sector has an important synergistic association with nature and as a sector we have a great opportunity to be an enabler of positive change bringing together NGO partners, community and regional stakeholders and academic institutions to drive measurable actions on the ground.”
Additional guidance was also launched for financial institutions, with more detail on the disclosures and disclosure metrics for banks, re/insurance companies, asset managers and owners and development finance institutions.
Guidance for the consideration of nature-related issues across value chains was also provided, including how organisations can approach analysis of their upstream and downstream value chains. It further outlined value chain characteristics that can create challenges in assessing nature-related issues, and how organisations can approach these issues when applying the TNFD’s LEAP approach.
David Blood, senior partner at Generation IM, added: “To achieve a world which protects nature and preserves a habitable climate we must drive the growth of sustainable investing and expand what capital values. We believe the TNFD recommendations and nature-related disclosures will help create the enabling conditions for investors and capital to achieve sustainability outcomes and impact.”
TNFD member change
In yet another announcement, the TNFD stated there would be an update to its Taskforce members. Singapore-based City Developments – having been an early adopter of the TNFD and one of the first companies to publish its first TNFD-aligned disclosure report – will take the place of Singapore Exchange, which will be stepping down. CDL will be represented on the Taskforce by Esther An, chief sustainability officer, who also serves as a member of the supervisory board of the Global Reporting Initiative.
An commented: “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.”
