New commitments to biodiversity from government and business

June 11, 2021

Two global nature and biodiversity reporting initiatives have received backing from governments and leading corporations. 

The G7 – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – has backed the launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), following a meeting of finance ministers. 

The TNFD will build on the successes of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which was launched in 2015 and has gained significant traction around the world. 

The TNFD aims to provide financial institutions and corporations with a framework to identify and report on environmental risks, designed to provide organizations with a deeper understanding of nature-related risks. 

The taskforce will be headed by two co-chairs, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and David Craig, CEO of Refinitiv and group leader of the data and analytics division at London Stock Exchange Group. 

Craig said: “Data gaps currently prevent financial institutions from assessing their nature-related risks, and so better information will accelerate the understanding of these issues and support a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes.” 

Meanwhile the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has received support from companies including KPMG for the development of an updated and revised biodiversity standard for sustainability reporting. 

GRI hopes that its new backers, along with further funding, will allow it to develop improved biodiversity standards as well as boost advocacy efforts. 

According to GRI, at least 2,000 organisations use the initiative’s current biodiversity standard. 

With the revised standard, the GRI aims to reach more organisations to enable them to address their role in biodiversity, and to help meet stakeholder expectations for transparency. 

Backers for the revised standard include Ambipar, philanthropic organization One Earth, along with a private individual donation. 

Minerva Analytics has produced our own guidelines on addressing biodiversity in your investment portfolio. Check out our Minerva Briefing on Biodiversity here.