TNFD

Understanding and managing nature related risks

For many organisations, issues related to biodiversity, water resources, land use, and ecosystems are becoming increasingly important, driven by growing regulatory requirements, shifting market expectations, and a deeper understanding of how dependence on nature affects business models and long-term resilience.

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a framework that helps companies and financial institutions identify, analyse, and report nature-related risks, dependencies, impacts, and opportunities. The framework is largely built on the same structure as the TCFD and focuses on how nature-related issues can be integrated into governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.

BDO helps companies understand where in their business and value chain nature-related issues are likely to have the greatest impact. This can include dependencies related to water, raw materials, land, or ecosystem services, as well as how changing regulations, biodiversity loss, or shifting natural conditions may affect the supply chain, access to resources, investments, and future business conditions.

In many engagements, the focus is on creating practical, actionable input for decision-making rather than reporting alone. For some organisations, the work is primarily about understanding exposure and risk, while others need support integrating nature-related issues into strategy, risk management, sustainability reporting, or long-term business development.

Common Challenges in Working with TNFD

• Limited data and methodology 
  Access to nature-related data is in many cases still limited and varies across geographies, industries, and parts of the value chain. At the same time, methodologies and frameworks are still evolving, leaving many organisations uncertain about which data, indicators, and levels of analysis are most relevant to use in practice.
• Identifying dependencies and impacts
  Mapping how a business affects and depends on nature and ecosystems can be complex, particularly in global value chains where visibility further down the supply chain is often limited. Many organisations also have indirect dependencies, on water resources, land quality, or ecosystem services that have not previously been analysed from a business or risk perspective.
• Integration into strategy and risk management 
  For many organisations, nature-related issues are still a relatively new area that hasn't yet been fully integrated into governance, investment decisions, and decision-making processes. A common challenge is connecting nature-related risks and dependencies to the organisation's business model, financial impact, and long-term strategy in a way that makes these issues relevant across the whole organisation.