TNFD’s 33 Taskforce Members kick off work with first Plenary meeting followed by launch of Development Finance Hub

  • Date Posted

Plenary meeting kick-starts the Taskforce’s work on developing a risk management and financial disclosure framework

A further three senior executives from Bunge, Grieg Seafood and Olam join the earlier announced 30 TNFD Taskforce Members

Paris, 6 October 2021: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has held its first Plenary meeting today, bringing together the TNFD Co-Chairs, Elizabeth Mrema and David Craig, and 33 Taskforce Members. The gathering officially kickstarts their work on developing the TNFD risk management and disclosure framework for the finance and business sector to better report on and manage their nature-related risks.

Three additional senior executives joined the already 30 strong Taskforce members who were announced last week, expanding on the group’s expertise and sectoral coverage, especially across the agribusiness and blue economy sectors. The three new members are:

  • Michel HR Santos, Senior Director – Global Sustainability, Bunge Ltd
  • Renete Kaarvik, Global Finance Officer, Grieg Seafood
  • Christopher Stewart, Head of Sustainability, Olam International Ltd

The hybrid meeting saw all 33 senior executives come together virtually with a small delegation, including TNFD Co-Chair David Craig, launching the meeting in person from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.

The group discussed the overall roadmap and timeline for developing the TNFD framework and the initial phase of work across five Working Groups.

David Craig, TNFD Co-Chair, former CEO of Refinitiv and Strategic Advisor to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), said following the plenary: “Time is of the essence in our race to net zero emissions and nature-positive financial flows. I am therefore pleased that we formally started work with the Taskforce members today, leveraging their expertise to develop a risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related impacts, dependencies and risks. It is time to move rapidly from concept to development of the framework and we will take an open innovation approach to doing that with market participants.”

Elizabeth Mrema, TNFD Co-Chair, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), positioned the work of the Taskforce alongside intergovernmental efforts to negotiate a new global biodiversity framework, including Part 1 of the COP15 for biodiversity, which is starting virtually from Kunming, China on October 11th, 2021. She stated: “Addressing the global biodiversity challenge requires reinforcing efforts across public, private and civil society sectors. The Taskforce Members have highlighted the need for an integrated and practical framework for action aligned with global policy priorities and informed by the best available science. I am delighted we are underway on this vital task.”

Following the first plenary meeting, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) launched the TNFD Development Finance Hub, which sits under the umbrella of the TNFD’s broader Knowledge Hub, with the goal of leveraging the emerging markets experience of the world’s 500 public development banks given their long experience investing for positive impact alongside financial return.

In addition, a meeting was held at Banque de France with representatives of Banque de France, OECD, French Treasury and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) to share ongoing research on assessing nature-related risk and disclosure approaches.

“The scientific community stresses the interconnections between climate and biodiversity. We welcome the launch of the TNFD’s work today at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris. It will complement the efforts made by the TCFD and other bodies to elaborate climate-related disclosure standards, as well as the work conducted by the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) on climate and increasingly nature-related risks,” said Sylvie Goulard, Deputy Governor of Banque de France.

For more information, contact:

Annebeth Wijtenburg, Communications Lead, TNFD

[email protected]