Seeking a natural fit: Tapping the new TNFD framework

Singapore is addressing the challenges – and opportunities – that arise from the launch of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures

Ang Kar Wee

Published Fri, Dec 9, 2022 · 03:45 PM

Nature-related financial disclosures

WHY do natural ecosystems matter to a city-state like Singapore? After all, the Singapore economy hums along on global trade, not on the resources that sub-tropical rainforests could provide.

One of the reasons why nature does matter to financial centres, as the new Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) points out, is that “nature loss poses a major risk to businesses, while moving to nature-positive investments offers opportunity”. Another, of course, is that we are part of nature and it has an intrinsic value.

The TNFD, launched in June 2021, aims to be a market-led, science-based framework that helps businesses integrate nature into their decision-making. Up to now, the natural world has been treated as a market externality. In other words, “what happens to nature” is not priced into financial decision-making. Agriculture, for example, relies on complex ecosystems in the soil. But no o…