Skip to content

BlackRock, HSBC Join Biodiversity Disclosure Initiative TNFD

(Bloomberg) —

Executives from BlackRock Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG were appointed to the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures to help develop a framework for measuring the impact that financial institutions and corporations are having on the natural world.

A 30-member group, which also includes representatives from Bank of America Corp., Moody’s Corp. and Nestle SA, will serve a two-year term on the taskforce to deliver a “risk management and financial disclosure framework to support a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and towards nature-positive outcomes,” according to a statement from the TNFD Thursday. The final rubric is due to be released in late 2023 with a draft version to be circulated early next year.

As finance leaders clamor to respond to the growing climate crisis, there’s a growing awareness that the deterioration of the natural world is an interconnected threat and poses great risks to financial markets and the global economy. Earth’s biodiversity is in peril with overconsumption, pollution and deforestation resulting in severe declines in wildlife populations, and that is a major problem because more than half of the world’s economic output is dependent on nature.

“The financial rationale for managing nature-related risks is increasingly clear now, but the information for identifying and acting on the risks in practice is not easily available,” said Herry Cho, head of sustainability and sustainable finance at the Singapore Exchange who’s also part of the taskforce.

Read more: Biodiversity Disclosures Set to Become Part of Company Reporting

The creation of TNFD was first announced in July 2020 after which an informal working group — a diverse coalition that included officials from BP Plc, Citigroup Inc. and the government of France– was set up to develop recommendations for the scope and strategy of the initiative. The co-chairs of the initiative, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema and David Craig, were appointed earlier this year.

“The business and financial world’s race towards net-zero emissions will only succeed if they race equally fast towards nature-positivity,” Mrema and Craig said in the statement. “While the importance and urgency of our work is clear, so is the complexity of the challenge ahead for the TNFD.”

© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.

SHARE ON SOCIAL

Back To Top