The executive director of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures says the global body is on track to release final standards next September that will inform companies and financial institutions about disclosing the impact their operations have on the natural environment beyond carbon dioxide emissions.
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures announced a new Australian funding partner this week: the Macdoch Foundation, a philanthropic foundation established by the MacLeod family. It has joined the taskforce’s stewardship council and will push the disclosure principles into the Australian agricultural sector.The Australian federal government is providing financial support to the TNFD.
Measuring the impact of corporate activity on nature is more challenging than climate because it lacks a standard measurement, like CO2 emissions, and impacts are broader than the atmosphere, including on land, animal species and water resources. Like the TCFD’s reliance on scientific work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , the TNFD is relying on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , which publishes global, ‘state of the environment’ reports. These examine impacts of business on resource use and replenishment, pollution, and the introduction of invasive alien species in oceans, freshwater, land and the atmosphere.