A large investment manager has published its first timberland and agriculture nature disclosure aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD) recommendations in an early move set to spark market interest.
Manulife Investment Manager (IM) administers 5.4 million acres of timberland and 397,000 acres of farmland across the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and Chile – assets valued at over $15 billion.
The company was among the early supporters of TNFD and contributed to the development of the task force recommendations, and has now published TNFD-aligned nature reports on its timberland and agriculture business.
“Nature plays a vital role in the future success of our businesses, the economy, and society,” said Oliver S. Williams IV, Manulife IM global head of agriculture investments.
“Alignment with the TNFD general requirements and disclosures, with the data and information currently available, is a significant step in our journey to achieving key priorities of our sustainability programme supporting climate change mitigation and positive biodiversity and nature-related outcomes.”
The move is expected to draw attention, as while 320 companies worldwide this week signed up to become early adaptors of TNFD, going through the reporting process in practice will be a challenge for many.
Manulife’s corporate disclosure was carried out using the LEAP (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare) approach recommended by the TNFD, though not mandatory.
The methodology was included in the final TNFD framework, launched in Sep. 2023, and designed to support companies in identifying and assessing nature-related issues.
While Manulife IM noted that “it will take time to translate our current approach into the language of dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities”, the disclosure outlined various ecosystem services the company hinges on, such as climate and water cycle regulations provided by forests.
“We follow best management practices such as minimising stream crossings and maintaining generous buffers between watercourses and harvest areas so that the forests continue to provide water regulation services,” Manulife IM reported.
“As of year-end 2022, the forests and farms we manage removed approximately 2.1 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually and protected approximately 20,000 miles of streams.”
The analysis published by Manulife IM builds on five main categories of TNFD metrics:
- Core global disclosure metrics
- Forestry core sector disclosure indicators and metrics
- Proposed additional forestry sector disclosure indicators and metrics
- Food core sector disclosure indicators and metrics
- Proposed additional food sector disclosure indicators and metrics
The company reported on its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, total spatial footprint, and land, freshwater, and ocean usage, conservation, and restoration. It also recognised the risk of agricultural chemicals being released into soil.
“We think our first TNFD disclosure is a milestone worth celebrating, but we’re not treating it as a finish line. We will continue seeking improvement both in our reporting and our operations and expect to share more over time,” Manulife IM said in the report.
Last year, Japan-based major chemicals and cosmetics company Kao released its risks and opportunity analysis under the TNFD using the LEAP approach.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
** Click here to sign up to our twice-weekly biodiversity newsletter **
