Concepts and definitions: Understanding nature
Fundamental concepts and definitions for nature-related risks and opportunities
Introduction
Over the past decade, market participants have developed and learned a language system to talk about, and respond to, climate change. Climate terminology has become part of the essential business lexicon for informing and making corporate and investment decisions that determine the flow of trillions of dollars of capital. No equivalent language system yet exists for nature and nature-related risks.
At the heart of the Taskforce’s early work has been the identification – and definition – of a set of fundamental concepts that the TNFD recommends market participants use to understand, assess, and report on their nature-related risks and opportunities. The Taskforce has worked closely with some of the world’s leading scientific and conservation organisations to ensure the TNFD’s recommendations draw on authoritative and consensus-based definitions as the foundation of a market-accessible language system for understanding nature.
The full set of core recommended definitions are provided in the TNFD glossary of key terms.