Overview
Background to this assignment
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) reported in September 20231 that nature is deteriorating globally, and biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. The majority of the vital ecosystem services on which business and society depend, and which provide the foundation for every economy, are in decline. Nature has increasingly become a core governance issue that needs to be considered as part of the strategic, operational and capital allocation decisions of business and finance. Organisations need to consider and disclose nature-related dependences and impacts, how nature-related risks and opportunities may evolve, and their potential business implications. This is typically achieved through its knowledge of its value chain as well as its capacity to identify and assess its nature-related issues. In their 2023 report, the TNFD has identified 14 recommendations regarding the disclosure of information relating to their governance, strategy, risk and impact management and its use of metrics and targets in relation to material nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. To facilitate the implementation of the TNFD’s recommendations, the TNFD, in consultation with others2, provides guidance on the identification and assessment of nature-related Issues via the TNFD’s LEAP integrated assessment approach3. The guidance outlines how to 1 TNFD (2023) Recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, September 2023. Available at: Recommendations_of_the_Taskforce_on_Nature-related_Financial_Disclosures_September_2023.pdf (tnfd.global) 2 Others included knowledge partners and providers of relevant existing frameworks to develop an integrated approach for the assessment of nature related issues. 3 TNFD (2023) Guidance on the identification and assessment of nature-related Issues: The TNFD LEAP approach, Version 1.1 October 2023. Available at:
identify, assess, manage and disclose nature related issues under the LEAP approach by using the following four phases of assessment: 1. Locate the company’s interface with nature across geographies, sectors and value chains; 2. Evaluate the company’s dependencies and impacts on nature; 3. Assess nature-related risks and opportunities to the company; and 4. Prepare to respond to, and report on, material nature-related issues to the primary users of financial reports and other stakeholders, aligned with the TNFD’s recommended disclosures. The LEAP approach is described graphically below: Guidance_on_the_identification_and_assessment_of_nature- related_Issues_The_TNFD_LEAP_approach_V1.1_October2023.pdf
Source: TNFD (2023) Guidance on the identification and assessment of nature-related Issues: The TNFD LEAP approach, Version 1.1 October 2023, Page 9. Available at: Guidance_on_the_identification_and_assessment_of_nature- related_Issues_The_TNFD_LEAP_approach_V1.1_October2023.pdf Your assignment task The CEO of your allocated company is performing some preliminary work in relation to the potential implementation of TNFD’s Disclosure recommendations. Assume that you are a consultant and have been hired by the CEO of your allocated company to prepare a report and perform a presentation to management and the board of directors regarding the implementation of the TNFD’s LEAP approach in relation to identification, assessment, management and disclosure of nature related issues affecting your allocated company, and
the primary industry in which it operates. The CEO requires you to use publicly available information about the company and the industry within which it operates, and to perform your analysis using the 4 phases of the TNFD LEAP integrated assessment approach. The CEO advises that for the purpose of your analysis, you are required to perform the following tasks: 1. Introduce the company and the industry within which it operates, the scope of the analysis to be performed and discuss your choice of the level of analysis (i.e., whole- of-business, single subsidiary, business segment or a single facility). 2. Provide a brief overview of the LEAP approach and discuss how materiality will be assessed for the analysis. 3. Identify company operations where there are potentially material sources of nature- related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. As part of this analysis, consider sector, value chain and geographic location issues (LEAP Phase 1 - Locate) 4. Evaluate the company operations where there are potentially material dependencies and impacts on nature. The analysis must identify and assess the environmental assets and ecosystem services on which it depends and from which its business processes generate value. This includes its upstream and downstream value chains. It should also identify and assess the impact drivers its organisation has that affect environmental assets and the provision of ecosystem services and could affect its dependencies and wider society. (LEAP Phase 2 - Evaluate). 5. Identify and prioritise the nature-related physical, transition and systemic risks and opportunities to the company originating from the dependencies and impacts on nature identified in the Locate and Evaluate phases. Also, consider the financial risks and opportunities that may arise from the nature-related risks and opportunities identified and identify potential risk mitigation strategies and other potential responses available to the company. (LEAP Phase 3 - Assess) 6. Discuss how the company should respond to the material nature-related issues identified in the LEAP approach, including what to disclose and how to disclose the material issues identified. (LEAP Phase 4 – Prepare to Report) 7. Obtain a copy of the most recent year Sustainability Report or Annual Report discussion regarding sustainability for your allocated company. Identify and discuss any modifications required to the allocated company’s sustainability reporting to incorporate your findings from Sections 3 to 6 above. 8. Provide a summary of the major findings from the analysis performed in LEAP Phases 1 to 4, and the modifications required to the current sustainability report. Be sure to highlight and clearly state all recommendations. It should be noted that the analysis can be performed using either a whole of company approach, by subsidiary, by business segment, or by business facility. Your analysis should note the following:
• Your analysis for this report must be consistent with the TNFD LEAP approach and should make use of processes and procedures discussed in TNFD Disclosure Recommendations and TNFD Technical documents. • When performing your analysis in LEAP Phases 1 to 4, you should consider and adapt (where applicable) the industry information provided by the TFND in the sector guidance provided on the TNFD web site ( https://tnfd.global/tnfd- publications/?_sft_framework-categories=additional-guidance-by-sector#search- filter ) and consider the completeness of any sustainability reporting already performed by the allocated company. It is not sufficient to simply summarise the TNFD sector guidance information as the report must be specific to your allocated company. • In LEAP Phases 1 to 4, the report does not need to include specific quantitative projections of financial impacts. However, it should clearly identify and explain the expected materiality of any anticipated financial impacts arising from the nature- related issues identified and describe the impacts on a qualitative basis. All major assumptions must be clearly stated. • Company responses to the specific nature-related risks should be as detailed as possible and you are expected to provide specific assessment of information tailored directly to the characteristics of your company. For example, it is not sufficient for you to argue that the company should designate a committee of the board of directors to address nature risks. You may wish to consider: How do strategies and operations need to change? What mechanisms will the company have to put in place to accomplish these changes? Deliverables for this Assignment The Major Assignment for this subject will be a Group Assignment which will require two deliverables: 1. Group assignment written report. 2. Group assignment final verbal presentation. Details for each as shown below. Deliverable No 1 Group assignment written report: 4000 words. You are required to complete a professional-standard report that must address each of the areas of analysis in Sections 1 to 7 above, and provide a summary and make recommendations as per Section 8, including all supporting arguments. The report’s content in Sections 1 to 7 should include the relevant analysis leading to and supporting these recommendations. You may wish to provide detailed support in appendices.
Please note that the written report must include the following components: 1. a Title Cover Sheet for the report; this should include all group members’ names and student IDs, as well as your seminar stream; 2. an Executive Summary which highlights the scope of the report, provides a summary of the work performed, identifies significant findings from the research and analysis and reports the primary recommendations. This should be a stand-alone document about the content of the report (typically 1-2 pages); 3. a Table of Contents; 4. an appropriate report Introduction that discusses the purpose of the report, the report structure (which should reflect the scope of work performed) and any report limitations; 5. the body of the report which must include the outcomes of the research and analysis in Sections 1 to 8; 6. all findings and recommendations in Section 9 should be clearly stated and supported by the research and analysis performed and reported in Sections 1 to 8 (typically 2-3 pages); 7. Appendices should be used as required; and 8. a bibliography should be included.
TNFD（https://tnfd.global/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Rec...）
LEAP https://tnfd.global/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Rec... this is a group report, u only need to do introduction, Locate, Prepare and recommendation part.