Responding to market needs for upskilling on nature-related issues, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has released two new capacity-building tools for market participants and for third-party training providers.
Available from the Knowledge Hub on the TNFD website are a Learning Lab, for interested individuals to access directly for their own self-guided, self-paced knowledge and skill building, and Trainer Portal, a suite of materials for use by training and education service providers.
Both platforms are designed to equip businesses and financial professionals directly and through third-party training providers with the knowledge and tools they need to understand key concepts related to nature and business, and to help them identify, assess, report and act on their nature-related issues.
With over 1,700 organisations now members of the TNFD Forum, 20 national or regional Consultation Groups established around the world and over 520 TNFD Adopters, the Taskforce has seen significant demand for practical skills and capability-building support across markets and sectors. TNFD’s guidance documents have been downloaded over 300,000 times in the last 12 months.
These two new open-access capacity-building platforms organise and curate TNFD’s content, as well as related content from TNFD Knowledge Partners and other leading institutions, to help market participants access high-quality learning and education materials to build their nature capabilities across a range of roles, sectors and regions.
Tony Goldner, Executive Director of the TNFD, said, “Across sectors and geographies, business and finance leaders increasingly realise that the resilience of their business and investment returns depends, in part, on the resilience of nature. The release of these learning tools on the TNFD website today is further evidence of the Taskforce’s commitment to equipping market participants with accessible, practical guidance as they look to build the confidence and capacity for their organisation to take concrete action.”
The TNFD Learning Lab
The Learning Lab is a freely available, self-guided platform to deepen understanding of the TNFD recommendations and guidance on nature-related issues. Designed for professionals of all levels – from those just starting out to those looking to deepen their knowledge on nature-related issues and the application of the TNFD recommendations – the Learning Lab provides nine modules covering all aspects of the TNFD recommendations, featuring videos, case studies, webinars and interactive content. Users can create an online profile enabling them to track their progress through the content over time and new materials will be added as they are released in the coming months.
The TNFD Trainer Portal
The Trainer Portal has been designed to provide in-house training teams and third-party training providers – from academic institutions to certified professional training providers and consultants – with a suite of high-quality ‘white label’ training materials covering the TNFD recommendations and guidance for incorporation into their branded sustainability training programmes or delivery of bespoke TNFD training modules.
This set of materials, available through the TNFD website, has been developed by the TNFD in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). The training materials consist of presentation decks, teaching guides and break-out group exercises and provide both a level of consistency and customisation to allow trainers to tailor the use of these materials to different audiences, regions and sectors subject to a responsible use policy.
In conjunction with the development of these third-party training materials, the TNFD has also been collaborating with a number of partner organisations to kick-start delivery of TNFD capacity-building initiatives. In late January TNFD and CISL delivered an inaugural Train-the-Trainer programme involving over 40 training specialists from 27 organisations and 16 countries.
The Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (SSEI) will also support listed companies and financial institutions in adopting and implementing the TNFD recommendations. Building on its success with TCFD, SSEI will deliver a series of training programmes, using the TNFD’s training materials, for listed companies on stock exchanges – in both developed and emerging markets – to raise awareness among both exchanges and issuers at a country level.
Simon Thompson, Managing Director, Global Capacity Building Coalition (GCBC), said, “Building awareness, enhancing knowledge and skills and creating an expert and engaged community of educators and practitioners are all key elements of successful capacity building. On behalf of the Global Capacity Building Coalition (GCBC) I warmly welcome the TNFD’s new Learning Lab and Trainer Portal, containing an impressive, comprehensive and user-friendly range of resources and tools to support individuals, educators and organisations of all kinds identify and address nature risks, and take advantage of opportunities by adopting nature-positive approaches. I strongly encourage all with an interest in this area to consider adopting the new tools and to share them as widely as possible.”
Madeleine Ronquest, Group Head of Environment, Climate Change and Nature, FirstRand Group Ltd South Africa, said, “To scale up much-needed action on nature, it’s crucial that we build the market’s capabilities to act. TNFD’s capacity-building efforts and the announcement of these two new tools will play a critical role in this effort to build knowledge and awareness at speed and at scale. The tools are designed for both individuals and organisations across a range of roles, sectors, regions and maturity levels, and will help provide a clear and consistent language and reference point on nature-related issues and the TNFD recommendations and guidance.”