TNFD counts 836 adopters of nature reporting ahead of ISSB, ISO standards work

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures said 836 organizations across 57 countries have committed to corporate reporting aligned with its recommended disclosures, a 14% rise in adopters in less than a year.

The count includes financial institutions representing more than $26 trillion in assets under management and listed companies accounting for more than $10.5 trillion in market capitalization, according to the update.

Separately, the taskforce reported that more than 1,100 organizations are now making one or more nature-related disclosures aligned with its recommendations, with a global average of 8 of the 14 recommendations covered. The update does not say how far that group overlaps with the 836 that have made commitments.

The taskforce was launched in 2021, built on the model of the climate-related disclosures task force, and published its final recommendations in September 2023. It said it recently launched LEAP 2.0, its updated guidance for assessing and reporting nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities.

The IFRS Foundation's International Sustainability Standards Board is preparing a practice statement on nature-related disclosures, and ISO approved a TNFD-initiated proposal last month to develop the taskforce's LEAP approach into an ISO standard. The Global Reporting Initiative is the third standard setter the TNFD has said it will support.

The TNFD said last year that it would end its technical work programme this year following the initiation of the ISSB's nature-related work, shifting its focus to supporting standard setting at the ISSB, and now ISO, as well as the GRI. With the new update, it said its updated recommendations and LEAP guidance mark the completion of its assessment and disclosure-related guidance development work programme.

Its stated priorities from here are backing the nature-related standard-setting work of the ISSB, GRI and ISO, plus capacity-building and market-enabling efforts. The recommendations and the LEAP methodology are no longer the taskforce's to revise; the disclosure framework companies will report against is being assembled by the three standard setters the TNFD says it will now support, which suggests the near-term question for preparers is sequencing rather than substance.