What is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures

The TCFD and TNFD are complementary frameworks that can be used together to help organisations understand and manage their climate and nature-related risks and opportunities. The TCFD provides a framework for disclosure, while the TNFD provides a framework for management and disclosure. By using both frameworks, organisations can get a more comprehensive understanding of their exposure to these risks and opportunities and take steps to mitigate them.

• The TNFD’s systems approach can be used to identify and assess the nature-related risks and opportunities that are most relevant to an organisation. This information can then be used to develop climate-aligned strategies and risk management plans.

• The TNFD’s focus on the non-financial impacts of nature loss can help organisations understand the full range of risks and opportunities that they face. This information can be used to make better decisions about their operations and investments.

In a recent survey of the TNFD Forum, over 86% of 239 respondents from 36 countries and across 11 sectors indicated that they felt they could start reporting on the TNFD recommended disclosures by calendar year 2026, based on their financial year 2025 outcomes. In short, a lack of data should not be a reason to delay.

Core concepts

There are four conceptual building blocks at the heart of the TNFD Framework:

• nature-related dependencies

• impacts

• risks, and

• opportunities.

These are collectively referred to as nature-related issues. The growing body of scientific research and knowledge about nature and the resilience of the ecosystems on which society and business depend is clear that evaluating dependencies and impacts on nature is essential for assessing the risks and opportunities to an organisation.

The Framework

The TNFD framework consists of three elements:

• A summary of the concepts and definitions that market participants can use to assess and disclose nature-related issues

• Guidance for financial institutions and corporates to assess nature-related issues and incorporate them into their enterprise strategy and risk management processes – this will help with capital allocation using the LEAP approach (see below)

• The TNFD’s recommended disclosures for nature-related issues.

Disclosures

The TNFD adopted all 11 TCFD recommended disclosures into the new framework and describes the link between the value chain to nature as: direct operations, upstream, downstream and financed. It has also given additional guidance on the use of scenario analysis, including tools and templates, to inform strategy and improve resilience over key topics that are specific to nature.

The TNFD framework also recommends that corporates applying nature-related targets should use science-based targets such as those created by the cross-sector Science Based Targets Network. As best practice, these should include both qualitative and quantitative metrics that align with TNFD and other global policies or approaches, such as the Global Biodiversity Framework’s monitoring framework.

Similar to TCFD, the TNFD provides the following four key guidelines/pillars.

The LEAP approach: How organisations can incorporate TNFD

The LEAP approach allows businesses to consider four core stages of analytic activity:

• locate your interface with nature

• evaluate your dependencies and impacts

• assess your risks and opportunities, and

• prepare to respond to nature-related risks and opportunities.

The extract below from TNFD sets out a streamlined LEAP approach, that will enable corporates and financial institutions to incorporate LEAP into their existing enterprise or portfolio risk management systems.

The TNFD has provided the following guidance:

• Guidance for identifying and assessing naturerelated issues (the LEAP approach)

• Sector guidance

• Biome guidance

• Scenario analysis guidance

• Guidance on engagement of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities & affected stakeholders

The TNFD report recognises that more work will be needed and has shared the following priorities: