The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure Final Recommendations for Business

Earlier this month, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) launched its final recommendations for businesses  in what the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative “UNEP FI” described as a “historic moment to encourage and support action on nature.”
The TNFD marked the culmination of a two-year process of research and consultation and  is set to change how companies and financial institutions address risks and opportunities related to nature, similar to the transformative effect that the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) had on climate-related reporting,

The TNFD, the TCFD, and the ISSB

The reporting requirements of TNFD derive from the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The TCFD introduced its 11 recommendations in June 2017, which has since become the widely adopted global framework for climate reporting. While there are resemblances between the two frameworks, the primary distinction lies in that the TCFD exclusively concentrates on the disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities. In contrast, TNFD recommendations go a step further by encouraging disclosures that encompass both climate and nature aspects, rather than solely focusing on nature disclosures.

Additionally, earlier this year, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) issued its first two IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards: IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information (IFRS S1) and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (IFRS S2) which fully incorporate the recommendations of the TFCD. The ISSB builds on the TFCD work and considers broader ESG factors, serving more as a “standard” rather than a “framework” in that the ISSB establishes more extensive requirements and principles, outlining both what should be and should not be reported.

The TNFD recommendations

The framework empowers companies to evaluate, disclose, and navigate nature-related risks and impacts fostering uniform and comparable reporting globally among businesses and financial institutions.

The 14 recommendations provided by the TNFD are categorized under the same four pillars as those in the TCFD framework. These pillars encompass governance, strategy, risk and impact management, as well as metrics and targets. The framework:

• Spans a broad spectrum of nature-related concerns, ranging from biodiversity and the loss of ecosystem services to the sustainability of natural resources, and their implications for financial performance and decision-making.
• Urges companies and financial institutions to conduct materiality assessments, identifying the nature-related issues most pertinent to their operations and financial performance.
• Underscores the significance of scenario analysis in evaluating how diverse nature-related scenarios could impact financial performance.
• Promotes active engagement with stakeholders, particularly investors, to align disclosures with their expectations.

What this means for businesses and what happens next

While the framework is currently voluntary, this release is expected to catalyse extensive adoption across various industry sectors, bringing about the alignment of corporate financial strategies with environmental sustainability. This move reinforces the significance of nature in the global economy.

The expectation is that pioneering companies will announce their plans to initiate reporting in accordance with the framework in the coming days and weeks. Some enterprises, such as Natura&Co, Holcim, and Reckitt, have already been testing TNFD adoption privately through a series of beta versions. Notably, GSK has already declared its commitment to produce its inaugural TNFD-aligned report in 2026, utilizing data from 2025. According to a survey conducted among current TNFD Forum members, 70% expressed their readiness to commence disclosing nature-related issues by by the end of 2025 or earlier, with an initial focus on governance factors.

Banks should start to examine output procedures and business structures to integrate the TNFD into their existing frameworks. If banks and financial institutions align their strategies and portfolios with nature restoration, it will further motivate businesses to incorporate nature into their corporate decisions and strategies.

The TNFD creates a tool to integrate nature into businesses’ decision-making framework and allows companies to build resilience through transparency and collective action.