On May 23rd, during the “Net Zero Emissions Summit” held in the City of London, the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) roundtable discussion was successfully conducted. The roundtable discussed the progress of the Biodiversity and Finance Working Group of the Green Finance Committee of the China Society for Finance and Banking. At the same time, disclosure practices of financial institutions regarding nature-related information and the disclosure of biodiversity-related information by companies were very important topics that were brought up. The forum was organized by Schroders, and saw keynote speeches from Dr. Ma Jun and Sir William Russell, Co-Chairs of the China-UK Green Finance Taskforce, and Rhys Gordon-Jones, Counsellor for Financial and Professional Services at the UK Embassy in Beijing.
During the roundtable forum, research findings on the disclosure of biodiversity information by companies, conducted by the International Cooperation Department, were presented by Director Mao Qian. She stated that awareness around the importance of biodiversity has gradually increased among companies and financial institutions, but their capacity and practice in disclosing biodiversity information are still relatively limited. China has made commendable progress in climate and environment-related disclosures, which provides a good foundation for promoting biodiversity information disclosure. Experts from the Institute of Finance and Sustainability and Bank of China, also shared valuable insights and opinions in this session.
Following the roundtable session, Mr. David Craig, Co-Chair of the TNFD, provided a detailed introduction to the TNFD framework and the current progress of their work. He also mentioned that TNFD will soon release the final version of the framework.
Biodiversity and climate are closely interconnected, and taking proactive action to address the biodiversity crisis is a crucial step for mitigating climate change, enhancing adaptation, and increasing climate resilience. The forum has played a significant part in enhancing the awareness of biodiversity information disclosure in the financial and academic research sectors of China and the UK.