The unknown unknowns: The crucial missing piece from both climate and nature disclosure rules

Dark matter outweighs visible matter roughly six to one. That makes the universe only slightly more mysterious to us than the biodiversity of our own planet – it’s been estimated that we have likely only encountered and named 20 percent of the species on Earth. Climate physical risk is complicated, uncertain and full of unknown unknowns, so there’s lots to learn from recent experience in climate-related disclosures as companies, banks and investors turn to calculate and disclose their nature dependency.

In the wake of the widespread influence of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2017, a group of governments, financial institutions, companies and organisations teamed up to initiate a Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the final framework for which will be published in September. The taskforce will guide disclosures of “nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities,” and may inform a future standard from the International Sustainability Standards Board, which is currently consulting on proposed research projects (open for comment until the end this month)  including one that would focus on sustainability-related risks and opportunities associated biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services,