In September 2023, the TNFD published its final Recommendations for businesses and financial institutions to disclose material interactions with nature. These aim to inform better decision-making by companies and capital providers, and contribute to a shift in global financial flows toward nature-positive outcomes and the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
This briefing, produced by the Climate Governance Initiative, explains what the latest TNFD recommendations mean for you as a board director and key questions to ask in the boardroom to ensure your organisations can benefit from the opportunity to make impactful changes for business and nature.
Key takeaways for board directors
The TNFD framework can support board directors to guide their organisations’ transition to net zero and nature positive outcomes. By disclosing a more comprehensive picture of the organisation’s opportunities and risks relating to climate change, the use of natural resources and related interactions with society; board directors can equip themselves, and others both within and outside the organisation, to make informed and strategic decisions to improve the future of the business.
The TNFD Recommendations and guidance enable organisations to assess and manage nature-related issues (dependencies, impacts, opportunities and risks) to support a strategic shift toward nature-positive outcomes. Businesses following the Recommendations should provide consistent and comparable material information to investors and other stakeholders. To support strategic business decision making and provide valuable information to the external investor community, board directors should consider incorporating nature management into their organisation’s governance structures and advising their executive management to accommodate effective nature-related disclosure following the TNFD Recommendations.
TNFD is consistent in language and structure with other sustainability reporting standards and frameworks such as TCFD, ISSB, GRI and CSRD, lending itself to wider adoption in both voluntary and mandatory disclosures. Board directors may want to consider early adoption of the TNFD Recommendations, which will help their organisation to proactively align with the latest climate and nature-related disclosure trends and adapt to a rapidly evolving disclosure landscape. A list of early adopters of TNFD Recommendations will be shared at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2024.
Read more, including key questions for Board Members to raise in the boardroom: https://hub.climate-governance.org/article/TNFD_briefing
