“Upwards of half of the world’s GDP is dependent on our local environments and the ecosystem services we use, where we see biodiversity as a particularly high priority area. So it is of utmost importance that we as owners can help companies shift their business models to address not only climate risk, but all other environmental risks we see as well. As a member of the TNFD Forum we are taking an important step in this direction,” says Elisabet Jamal Bergström, Head of Sustainability at SEB Investment Management.
The TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) is a framework under development to standardise reporting of risks and opportunities coupled to environmental issues. These include land use, water use, biodiversity, pollution, and ecosystem services. The framework builds further upon the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures), which is used by SEB and many other organisations to report on carbon emissions.
Calculations performed by Moody’s and the World Economic Forum, for example, show that companies with somewhere around USD 10 trillion in debt are exposed to nature-related risks. At the same time, by 2030 an equal amount of value can be created yearly through nature-positive shifts of business models.
“Having the ability to report, measure and price biodiversity, use of land and water environments, and other ecosystem services is decisive for the ability to shift business models and create new value both for companies and the environment,” says Emma Heikensten, Senior Sustainability Specialist at SEB Investment Management. “We will incorporate knowledge from both the TNFD and other contexts when we develop our sustainability work, not least with respect to water issues and biodiversity.”
The TNFD framework is supported by numerous central banks, governments, and organisations, including the OECD and IMF.
“The broad support that exists for the TNFD makes it very likely that the framework will be both useful and applied out in the real world. It will be exciting and inspiring to drive our involvement in the TNFD Forum and for these environmental issues,” notes Alfred Askeljung, Sustainability Specialist at SEB Investment Management.
The TNFD Forum is a consultative grouping of over 700 large corporations, financial actors and public institutions in 48 countries that are working to develop and spread knowledge about the framework and the environmental issues it addresses.
Read more about the TNFD Forum here: The TNFD Forum – TNFD