2020 was supposed to be the ‘super year for nature’, with the COP15 United Nations biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, having been due to take place in October.
However, despite the summit itself being postponed to next year, 2020 may still go down in history the year that finance woke up to nature’s importance.
Certainly, September could have been the ‘super month for nature’, as numerous impactful reports and initiatives were launched with the aim of rallying the financial sector to understand its intimate connection to nature and the ecosystem services that it provides.
TNFD
The informal working group (IWG) of the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) had its first meeting during the month. Several governments, including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Peru, are members of the IWG, as are, encouragingly, many representatives from the financial and corporate sector, in addition to the more likely environmental organizations, UN bodies and natural capital data providers.
The group has the daunting task to set the scope, structure and work plan for the TNFD – which will commence in 2021 and is expected to enter the market in 2023 – within six months.
That
