The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have released guidelines to help companies align their nature-related disclosures.
TNFD and GRI mapped out their interoperability following feedback from market participants, underscoring the high level of alignment achieved between the two frameworks, according to a joint statement.
“The release of today’s mapping from GRI and the TNFD will further support market participants needing, or wanting, to report on their nature-related dependencies and impacts leveraging GRI standards and metrics and in line with the TNFD recommendations,” said Tony Goldner, executive director of the TNFD.
TNFD and GRI are among the most prominent voluntary standards for nature-related disclosures.
In the last few months, a growing number of companies and financial institutions have committed to adopting the TNFD recommendations, though the GRI is more established, with around 14,000 reporters globally.
The newly published analysis showed that all the disclosures in the GRI 101 biodiversity standard, which was updated in January, are reflected in the TNFD recommendations.
At the same time, TNFD recommendations are mostly included in the GRI standards, except for those exclusively addressing nature-related risk and opportunity identification and assessment.
STRONG CONSISTENCY
The report revealed a strong alignment between the TNFD core global disclosure metrics and the corresponding metrics in the GRI standards.
It also showed there is consistency in language and alignment on the five direct drivers of nature loss, as defined by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
The initiative seeks to support the use of TNFD’s Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare (LEAP) approach, which incorporates GRI approaches to materiality guidance for impact, according to the joint statement.
“Nature risks are business risks that should be measured and disclosed in a more robust manner,” said Esther An, chief sustainability officer of Singapore-based real estate company City Developments Limited, member of the TNFD taskforce and GRI supervisory board.
“As we look towards adopting the new GRI 101 [biodiversity standard] in our upcoming sustainability reports, we welcome the interoperability between TNFD and GRI to harmonise the global sustainability reporting landscape.”
Alignment of biodiversity disclosures is becoming increasingly important as it affects the comparability of biodiversity data, with actors suggesting that greater interoperability leads to more transparency.
A report published by the EU Business & Biodiversity (B&B) Platform recently flagged the differences between the most influential biodiversity disclosure initiatives, including TNFD, GRI, and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
Last month, the TNFD and ESRS published joint guidelines on corporate reporting, highlighting the alignment between the two frameworks.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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