Geneva/London, 25 January 2022: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is pleased to announce it is working with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) as part of a multi-disciplinary group of leading international organisations that will support the TNFD’s task of developing a risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks. This framework will provide companies and investors with decision-useful information to help shift the flow of global capital to nature-positive outcomes.
TNFD knowledge partners will contribute expertise across scientific disciplines, market practice and the development of nature-risk scenarios to advise the Taskforce, compromising of 34 senior executives from across finance, business and market service providers.
In recent years, WBCSD has brought leading companies together to discuss disclosure practices, enhance disclosure effectiveness, implement the TCFD recommendations and develop climate reference scenario approaches. TNFD brings the additional focus on nature to this disclosure space, and as companies progress their nature positive journey, the need for alignment amongst disclosure frameworks is pressing. To this end, WBCSD also supports the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in their intent to develop a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards.
The participation and collective experience of this group reflects the commitment of the TNFD to build on existing expertise and initiatives, and to incorporate the best available scientific knowledge and established market practice relating to risk management and disclosure.
This initial group of knowledge partners are:
- Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
- Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
- Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)
- SASB Standards Research Team
- Science Based Targets Network (SBTN)
- The Capitals Coalition
- UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP WCMC)
- UNSD
- The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
- WWF
With consultation and piloting testing of the draft risk management and disclosure framework due to begin in April, the TNFD will be expanding its global network of consultation and implementation partnerships throughout 2022, including channels for engagement with national conservation and business organisations, as well as local community groups in high nature-risk areas globally.
This partnership announcement follows only a few months after WBCSD announced its new strategy for 2022-2027 to step up the course for systemic business transformation. It is urgent that in the current decade, all companies implement ambitious action plans to address the three global challenges of our time: Nature Action, Climate Action, and Equity Action. WBCSD will support business in shaping strategies and formulating their actions to succeed in a net zero, nature positive, and equitable future. By working on all three imperatives simultaneously, WBCSD provides a uniquely integrated offer to help leading companies tackle the biggest sustainability challenges society faces.