The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has announced the release of LEAP 2.0, the first comprehensive update to its core methodology and guidance designed to help companies assess and report on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities.
The TNFD was established in 2021 to support organisations in reporting and acting on their evolving nature-related risks.
To assist organisations in assessing and disclosing their nature-related issues, the TNFD developed the LEAP approach and accompanying guidance for corporates and financial institutions over a two-year period between 2021 and 2023. Through an open innovation process—which included three beta releases, extensive market feedback, and pilot testing—thousands of individuals and organisations worldwide played a key role in designing and testing LEAP, ensuring it is both scientifically robust and practically implementable.
In September 2023, the organisation published its final recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure, alongside the LEAP approach for identifying and assessing nature-related issues. To date, more than 1,000 organisations across 56 countries have published disclosures aligned with the TNFD recommendations.
The release of the updated LEAP approach marks one of the TNFD’s final major technical deliverables, following its announcement last year that it would conclude its technical work programme at the end of 2026. This comes after the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) announced plans to begin developing disclosure standards for nature-related risks and opportunities. The ISSB indicated that its work on nature-related disclosures will build upon the LEAP approach. The TNFD also noted that it is contributing to the development of an ISO standard based on the LEAP 2.0 assessment approach.
The TNFD LEAP approach guides organisations through four phases—Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare—to help them understand their interface with nature, evaluate their dependencies and impacts on nature, assess resulting nature-related risks and opportunities, and prepare nature-related disclosures.
The new version is available here.
The TNFD stated that LEAP 2.0 incorporates numerous updates and enhancements based on market feedback. Key changes include:
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Expanded guidance on assessing nature-related risks and opportunities
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Measuring the state of nature to support the evaluation of dependencies and impacts
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Guidance for assessing financial institution portfolios
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Environmental crime considerations; integrating nature into transition planning
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New guidance on measuring invasive alien species
The approach also includes the new State of Nature Indicators and Metrics framework published by the Nature Positive Initiative (NPI).
The LEAP 2.0 approach was released ahead of the upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 17), alongside updated science-based targets for nature methods launched by the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the new NPI metrics.
“The market has moved rapidly over the past few years, with thousands of organisations now working to understand and manage their nature-related issues. As implementation accelerates, it is critical that assessment, target-setting, and reporting approaches work together in practice in a mutually reinforcing way,” said Tony Goldner, Executive Director of the TNFD.
In this first update to LEAP, the TNFD has integrated several improvements based on market feedback. The most notable additions include:
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Measuring the state of nature to support the assessment of dependencies and impacts;
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Environmental crime considerations;
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New guidance on measuring invasive alien species;
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More detailed guidance on risk assessment and nature-related opportunities;
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Further guidance for assessing financial institution portfolios;
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Incorporating nature considerations into transition planning, as well as landscape- and seascape-scale approaches; and
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Linkages between the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets and TNFD target areas.
If you’re interested in the topic, check out our previous articles as well!
References:
https://www.naturepositive.org/news/metricsnews/tnfd-sbtn-nature-positive-initiative-release-aligned-guidance/