Home » NewsTNFD welcomes renewal of Macdoch Foundation strategic support Date Posted 9th September 2024 London, UK, 9 September 2024 The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is pleased to announce the renewal of financial support from the Macdoch Foundation for another two years. The Macdoch Foundation was first announced as a strategic funding partner of the TNFD at COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt in late 2022 with respect to an initial grant of US$500,000 for calendar years 2023 and 2024. Consequently the Macdoch Foundation’s CEO, Michelle Gortan, joined the TNFD’s Stewardship Council, comprised of the TNFD’s founding organisations and other government, international organisation and philanthropic funders. Alongside its financial contribution, the Taskforce has also benefitted from the natural capital accounting expertise seeded by Macdoch Foundation in relation to its support for the Farming the Future program in Australia. Tony Goldner, Executive Director of TNFD, commented: “The Macdoch Foundation is a valued long-term partner of TNFD, both for its financial support and for access to the valuable agricultural natural capital expertise and focus of its Australian team. We are delighted to have secured the ongoing partnership of the Macdoch Foundation as we focus on developing additional guidance to support market participants globally with the adoption of the TNFD corporate reporting recommendations published in September 2023.” Alasdair MacLeod, Chairman of the Macdoch Foundation, said: “Central to the mission of the Macdoch Foundation is the profound importance of nature as underpinning the resilience of our societies and our economies. Nature is also foundational to agriculture, the area in which we have a special interest and expertise. Since its launch, the TNFD has had a global impact on shifting the conversation about the relationship between business, finance and nature. It now provides the basis for more transparency as well driving nature-positive outcomes through investment and innovation. We are delighted to continue to support TNFD’s efforts around the world.” Michelle Gortan CEO of the Macdoch Foundation, said, “There’s never been a more important time for nature to enter the frame of business and financial decision-making. We know that business is focused on climate risk; the next step is for all businesses to examine nature-related dependencies and impacts and their implications for the resilience of their own business and the natural ecosystems which they rely on. Our funding of TNFD is one of our flagship grants to support greater accountability and action on nature, and I am honoured to continue my role on the TNFD Stewardship Council for another two years.” ABOUT THE MACDOCH FOUNDATION The Macdoch Foundation is the Australian philanthropic foundation of Prue and Alasdair MacLeod. It is striving for a nature-positive, climate-friendly agriculture and food system that is economically sustainable, nourishes people and strengthens communities. Since it began its funding program in 2021, the Macdoch Foundation has distributed over AU$40M in the areas of agriculture and natural capital, public engagement and climate-related industry transitions, and the health and wellbeing of farming communities. The Foundation is active in Australia and the US. ABOUT THE TASKFORCE ON NATURE-RELATED FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES (TNFD) The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a market-led, science-based and government-backed initiative providing organisations with the tools to act on evolving nature-related issues. It was launched in June 2021 with the support of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group and financial support from a number of governments and philanthropic foundations. In September 2023, the TNFD published a set of disclosure recommendations and guidance that encourage and enable business and finance to assess, report and act on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. The recommendations and guidance will enable businesses and finance to integrate nature into decision making. The goal of the Taskforce is to support a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes, aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework. With the recommendations released, the Taskforce is now focusing its efforts on encouraging and supporting voluntary market adoption and supporting efforts to address the implementation, capacity building and data needs of market participants. The Taskforce is comprised of 40 senior executives drawn from leading financial institutions, corporates and market service providers, with combined assets of over US$20 trillion. Twenty core knowledge partners from leading science, standards, and data bodies feed into the work of the Taskforce. A group of over 1,500 organisations support the work of the Taskforce as institutional members of the TNFD Forum. Over 400 organisations globally have now committed to start reporting on their nature-related issues aligned to the recommendations of the TNFD. TNFD will have a significant presence at COP16 in Cali, Colombia this October, including an announcement of the next cohort of organisations committed to starting nature-related reporting aligned to the TNFD recommendations. MEDIA CONTACTS Macdoch Foundation Matthew Peacock, Dentsu Creative Public Relations, [email protected] TNFD Rita Lockheart, Communications Lead, [email protected] [email protected]