𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 TNFD 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐒𝐆

We are seeing a massive shift in reporting, but the alphabet soup (ESG, TCFD, TNFD) is confusing.

Many think TNFD Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is just "more ESG." It isn't. Here is how it differs:

1. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔

 • 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐒𝐆: Obsessed with Carbon and Climate (The "E"). It asks: "How much are we polluting?"

 • 𝐓𝐍𝐅𝐃: Obsessed with Nature & Biodiversity (Soil, Water, Forests). It asks: "How much do we rely on nature to stay in business?"

2. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 "𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏" 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 (𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒈 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒇𝒕)

 • 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐒𝐆: Location often didn't matter. A ton of carbon emitted in New York is the same as a ton emitted in Mumbai.

 • 𝐓𝐍𝐅𝐃: Location is everything. Nature is local. You cannot destroy a forest in Indonesia and "offset" it by saving a lake in Canada. TNFD requires you to Locate exactly where your assets touch nature.

3. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 (𝑫𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚)

 • 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐒𝐆 (𝐓𝐂𝐅𝐃): Focused on Financial Materiality. "How does climate change hurt our bottom line?"

 • 𝐓𝐍𝐅𝐃: Uses Double Materiality.

 1. Outside-In: "If the bees die, do we lose our supply chain?" (𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤)

 2. Inside-Out: "Does our factory destroy the local water table?" (𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤)

𝟒. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐓𝐂𝐅𝐃 𝐯𝐬. 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐏

Most ESG reporting follows a standard check-box exercise. TNFD introduces the LEAP approach:

 • 𝐋ocate your interface with nature.

 • 𝐄valuate dependencies & impacts.

 • 𝐀ssess risks & opportunities.

 • 𝐏repare to report.

If you skip the "Locate" step, you cannot do TNFD.

𝟓. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 (𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐎𝟐)

Standard ESG stops at "Scope 1, 2, 3 Emissions." TNFD introduces 14 Core Global Metrics, including:

 • 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭: Total weight of plastics used/sold.

 • 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤: Volume of water withdrawn from water-stressed areas.

 • 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐬𝐞: Area of land/ocean ecosystem usage (e.g., "How many hectares of forest did we degrade?").

𝐈𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭: ESG Reporting says, "𝑊𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 1,000 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑛𝑠." TNFD says, "𝑊𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 50-ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑛 2028."

𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐄𝐒𝐆 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐍𝐅𝐃?

Reach out to us at C² (Csquare). We help organizations move beyond the alphabet soup and build resilient nature-positive reporting strategies.