Home » NewsTNFD releases draft roadmap for enhancing market access to high quality nature-related data at COP16 Date Posted 26th October 2024 DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE – ENGLISH | SPANISH CALI, COLOMBIA, 26 October 2024 The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) today released a discussion paper outlining a roadmap to upgrade market access to decision-useful nature-related data. The announcement was made during COP16 in Cali, Colombia. Demand from business and finance for nature data is set to grow exponentially in the coming years in light of new reporting, target setting, transition planning and capital allocation activities. Market requirements for data quality, timeliness and assurance are going to demand a step-change in funding for upstream nature data providers to meet these new coverage and quality requirements. The roadmap released today builds on the TNFD’s prior work, including its 2022 nature data landscape assessment and 2023 scoping study on a potential Nature Data Public Facility (NDPF). The roadmap takes a principles-based approach to identifying medium- to long-term strategic enhancements across the nature data value chain. It outlines three key priorities which will be the focus of pilot testing in 2025 before a final set of recommendations are put forward in late 2025. Development of a composite set of nature data principles, building on existing scientific, open data and corporate assurance data standards; Testing of existing nature data sets and sources with upstream data providers against those standards to scope more precisely the coverage and quality gaps for priority future investment; and Further specification of market needs and use cases for high-quality, assurable nature-related data through the testing of a beta version Nature Data Public Facility (NDPF) and further evaluation of the potential long-term governance, funding and commercial model for such a facility. Ben Macdonald, who leads philanthropic climate market data initiatives at Bloomberg, said: “Quantifying, reporting and managing nature-related risk is becoming increasingly central to business and investment decisions. Increasing access to high-quality, transparent data is fundamental to enabling this. The TNFD’s roadmap is a vital first step in building an infrastructure for nature-related data. It provides a clear pathway for driving further collaboration and progress across the nature data value chain – helping to better define the quality and consistency of the data that we need to assess risk, make decisions and take action to protect and restore our natural ecosystems.” Lauren Smart, Chief Commercial and Market Engagement Officer for S&P Global Sustainable1: “The vast majority of the world’s largest companies have a significant dependency on nature across their direct operations. Continuous innovation in datasets, and the ability to bring these together in one place to provide a holistic, streamlined view will support a concerted effort from industry to address the underlying problem of nature loss. Ultimately, we hope that will support the flow of capital to drive nature-positive outcomes.” Yana Gevorgyan, Director of the GEO Secretariat, commented: “TNFD’s roadmap for enhancing nature-related data is a crucial step toward creating a marketplace where stakeholders in the financial and corporate sectors can access high-quality data for setting science-based targets, reporting and transition planning. The Global Ecosystems Atlas by GEO will provide open, scientifically-robust harmonised spatial data on ecosystems, strengthening the global data value chain. Close alignment with TNFD’s ongoing evaluation and testing of a public data facility will further enhance this data service, ensuring it serves the wide range of stakeholders working toward sustainability.” David Craig, Co-Chair of the TNFD, noted: “This roadmap reflects our ongoing commitment to develop a comprehensive and collaborative approach to addressing the gaps in nature-related data availability, consistency and quality – efforts that are critical to empowering business and finance to take concrete action as soon as possible.” Cathrine Armour, Director of Data Initiatives at TNFD, commented: “With recommendations, guidance and metrics now all published by the TNFD, SBTN and others and over 500 organisations now commencing their TNFD-aligned reporting, addressing quality and assurability concerns around nature data is a critical and urgent priority. Enhancement across the nature data value chain will be required, including funding for upstream data providers to continue to expand their nature data assets as a global public good, as well as better accessibility to high-quality nature data at lower cost for end users.” The TNFD welcomes feedback on the proposed roadmap, with a public consultation period open until 17 January 2025. The Taskforce encourages businesses, financial institutions and other stakeholders to engage with the roadmap and share their insights. For more information, visit tnfd.global or contact the TNFD Communications team at [email protected]. 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 TNFD recommendations now operationalise Target 15 of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) agreed to by over 190 governments at the CBD COP15 in Montreal in 2022 and enable businesses and finance to integrate nature into their governance, strategy, risk management and capital allocation 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, capability 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 from around the world and across sectors, with combined assets of over US$20 trillion. Twenty core knowledge partners from leading science, standards, and data institutions feed into the work of the Taskforce. A group of over 1,600 organisations support the work of the Taskforce as institutional members of the TNFD Forum. Over 500 organisations globally have now committed to start reporting on their nature-related issues aligned to the recommendations of the TNFD. MEDIA CONTACTS Rita Lockheart, Communications Lead, [email protected] [email protected]