ISSB to carry on work of TNFD on nature-related financial disclosures

The International Sustainability Standards Board plans to take up the activities of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures after the TNFD completes the technical work it currently has in progress by the third quarter of 2026. 

The TNFD then plans to pause the commencement of any further technical guidance work as the ISSB takes up the mantle. The TNFD and the ISSB made the announcement Friday in response to the ISSB’s decision to advance its own work to meet investors’ information needs through disclosures about nature-related risks and opportunities, while drawing on the TNFD framework.

In response to the needs identified by investors, the ISSB intends to undertake standard-setting to introduce incremental disclosure requirements on nature-related risks and opportunities that aren’t already reflected in the explicit requirements in its existing IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 sustainability and climate-related disclosure standards.

The arrangement with the TNFD reflects the increasing consolidation of sustainability standards under the ISSB, 

The IFRS Foundation formed the ISSB in 2021 in an effort to bring together the various standards developed by the Value Reporting Foundation’s Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and International Integrated Reporting Council, as well as the Climate Disclosure Standards Board. In 2022, the ISSB unveiled draft versions of two sustainability and climate disclosure standards, IFRS S1, General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information, and IFRS S2, Climate-related Disclosures, and finalized them in 2023. Like the TNFD, the ISSB took over the work of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures as the TCFD wound down its work in 2023.

‘The ISSB recognizes that there is a clear investor need for information about nature-related risks and opportunities,” said ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber in a statement Friday. “Drawing on the TNFD framework enables us to meet this need efficiently, reducing fragmentation and building on leading practice. We welcome TNFD’s decision to complete the technical work it currently has in progress and then to pause and provide its support as we advance the global baseline where it relates to nature through the ISSB. I encourage market participants to continue using the TNFD framework. This will help them prepare disclosures in accordance with IFRS S1 and prepare for meeting future incremental ISSB disclosure requirements.”

 The ISSB plans to agree on its approach to standard-setting in the coming months with options including a mix of application guidance or amendments to existing ISSB standards, industry-based guidance, additional sources of guidance or a new standard.  The work will be subject to public consultation in accordance with the IFRS Foundations due process.

Following the standard-setting, the ISSB will develop any necessary educational materials to explain how to apply the requirements in ISSB standards in the context of providing material nature-specific information.

To deliver this work the ISSB will draw on the TNFD framework and its non-siloed approach to nature, covering all aspects of nature rather than sub-topics. The ISSB will draw on TNFD’s recommendations, metrics and guidance, including the Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare (LEAP) approach as appropriate. 

The ISSB aims to have an exposure draft of incremental disclosure requirements ready by the Convention on Biological Diversity COP17 in October 2026.