The IFRS Foundation and the TNFD have taken a significant step forward by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This agreement marks a deepened collaboration aimed at enhancing the quality of nature-related financial disclosures in capital markets. The MoU was signed in Frankfurt earlier this week, cementing both organisations’ dedication to integrating the TNFD’s insights into the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) ongoing projects.
Since the TNFD’s inception in late 2021, it has served as a Knowledge Partner to the ISSB. The TNFD’s influence is evident in several ISSB initiatives, notably the Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services (BEES) research project that began in 2024. The TNFD’s recommendations, developed from its comprehensive engagements across 50 jurisdictions and with over 500 adopters, aim to inform the ISSB’s standards, focusing on enhancing industry-based SASB Standards to include nature-related disclosures.
Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, highlighted the partnership’s goals, stating, “We are delighted to be formalising our partnership with TNFD to ensure that the ISSB gives due consideration to the work TNFD have put into creating recommendations for nature-related financial disclosures. Transparency and accountability are a key means of enabling more stable, resilient, and efficient capital markets, and this collaboration will advance the ISSB’s ongoing work to reduce the complexity of the sustainability disclosure landscape, while building on established expertise and practice.”
Further, Sue Lloyd, ISSB Vice-Chair, emphasized the commitment to streamlined sustainability disclosures: “Our collaboration with the TNFD is a clear signal to the market that we are committed to reducing fragmentation in sustainability disclosure while meeting the need for relevant and high-quality information for capital markets.”
David Craig, Co-Chair of the TNFD, commented on the TNFD’s foundational role and its global impact: “Having engaged thousands of market participants in the development of our recommendations over the past four years and with first-generation TNFD reports now published from among the 500 TNFD Adopters, we welcome this deepened collaboration with the ISSB to inform their evolving sustainability reporting standards.”
Razan Al-Mubarak, Co-Chair of the TNFD and President of the IUCN, also noted, “Nature is essential to our economies and our future. Our collaboration with the ISSB is a major step toward making nature visible in businesses reporting and how capital is allocated.”
This enhanced cooperation between the ISSB and TNFD will include sharing research and expertise to refine the ISSB’s BEES initiative and further develop nature-related aspects of the SASB standards. The collaboration aims not only to improve the quality of information available to investors but also to support broader environmental objectives, such as those outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Keep up with all the latest FinTech news here
Copyright © 2025 FinTech Global
