The “nature” of reporting: The rise of nature in transition planning

Date 28th January 2025
Collection
COP16

Following on from a successful session at COP15 in Montreal, “A to Z of Sustainability Reporting”, this two-part session brings together the key organisations, regulators, standard-setters and framework bodies to showcase progress and updates since COP15.

Session two: Corporate disclosure and transition planning

Co-hosted by TNFD and GFANZ

Session two launched TNFD’s and GFANZ’s guidance on nature in transition planning. The guidance was published by the TNFD in draft, open for consultation and feedback. This session gives a detailed overview of the proposed guidance.

Hosted by

Aaron Vermeulen
Global Lead Finance Practice, WWF

Aaron Vermeulen is the Finance Practice Lead for WWF-International and responsible for the sustainable finance strategy globally. Prior to this he was the head of Green Finance at WWF-NL and concurrently one of the founders of the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD). Aaron also worked for five years as the WWF partnership manager at the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila. Before he held several positions, among others: director of the business group Water and Ecology for Royal HaskoningDHV consultancy in Amsterdam and as an associate expert for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo.

Guests

Joy Williams
Executive Director, Financial Institution Transition Planning, GFANZ

Abyd Karmali
Managing Director, ESG Client Advisory, Bank of America

Emily McKenzie
Technical Director, TNFD

Emily has significant experience on integrating nature in policy, finance, economics and decision-making. Prior to joining TNFD in November 2021, she led the analytical team that produced the global Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, based at the UK Economics and Finance Ministry.

Emily was previously seconded to the Capitals Coalition where she helped develop the Natural Capital Protocol in its Technical Group.

Emily worked for a decade in the WWF Global Science team, where she helped establish and lead the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University, helping decision-makers apply InVEST – leading ecosystem service modelling software. While at WWF, she supported The Coca Cola Company and Guggenheim Partners to consider dependencies and impacts on nature, and sustainability standards.

She helped design the Environmental Land Management scheme in England – a major national agricultural subsidy reform programme – based at the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Other previous roles included establishing environmental economics programmes at the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow.

She holds Masters degrees in International Policy from Stanford University and Economics at the University of Cambridge.

Based in London, Emily speaks English, and basic Bislama, Fijian, German and French.