UOB : U11 0%, City Developments Ltd : C09 0%(CDL), Olam Group’s : VC2 0% Olam Agri and Olam Food Ingredients, as well as consultancy firm Oceonomy, are the first five Singapore-based companies to adopt the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations released last September.

Along with 315 other organisations, they will be publishing TNFD-aligned disclosures as part of their annual corporate reporting for FY2023, FY2024 or FY2025, said the global taskforce on Tuesday (Jan 16). 

TNFD said the first batch of adopters consists of listed companies with a total market capitalisation of US$4 trillion, as well as over 100 financial institutions with US$14 trillion of assets under management. Global conglomerates and banks on the list include Inter Ikea Group, Sumitomo Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank.

The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.

TNFD co-chair David Craig said this was a “milestone moment for nature finance and for corporate reporting”.

“As climate-related sustainability reporting goes mainstream… this is a clear signal that investors, lenders, insurers and companies are recognising that their business models and portfolios are highly dependent on both nature and climate and need to be treated as both strategic risks and investment opportunities.”

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Meanwhile, a CDL spokesperson said the adoption of TNFD-aligned disclosures would help the company gain insights on how its operations and value chain interact with nature, to better mitigate environmental risks.

On the participation of its two subsidiaries, Olam Group said: “Applying the TNFD framework will allow us to systematically locate, evaluate, assess and disclose our nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities to better inform and direct our efforts to make a positive impact on environments and communities.”

Eric Lim, chief sustainability officer of UOB, noted the bank as an early adopter of TNFD, and how it aims to contribute to nature-positive outcomes. “We recognise that natural capital is the world’s most important asset and underpins all economic activities and people’s well-being.”