The final TNFD Recommendations on nature-related issues have just been released after two years of development. Three main changes were identified in this final version, in response to the feedback the TNFD received through its consultation rounds – engagement on social issues, disclosing sensitive locations and value chain transparency.

The ‘Breakthrough Agenda’ Report (2023) provides a valuable insight into the low-carbon transition pathway for the global agricultural sector. It is not a comforting read. The sector’s progress report ranks each measure as either showing minimal or modest progress. But the good news is that financial instruments, such as a deforestation-linked sovereign bond, could help deliver a faster transition.

As negotiations for a Global Plastic Treaty are soon to enter their third round, the UN is providing the opportunity for sovereign states to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis. The Zero Draft option paper quite rightly includes a reduction in fossil-based plastic as part of the solution. The UN deserves more support from politicians to ensure that the fossil fuel industry does not assign this opportunity to the waste pile along with the plastic it produces.

Ever thought about the true value of your simple walks in nature? This opinion piece highlights how our wellbeing, nature's beauty, and acts of kindness often go unmeasured in economic terms. Let's rethink what prosperity truly means.

The UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) in Rome last week took stock of the current status of the global food system and aimed at generating further momentum on action for food systems transformation in support of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. What should financial institutions and corporates take away from UNFSS+2?

By the end of 2023, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) will issue a consultation paper on climate-related disclosure requirements that it intends to add to international standards for capital requirements. We urge the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to be more ambitious and incorporate broader nature risks, not only climate risk, in their upcoming consultation.

Nestlé improves climate mitigation investment disclosures while the ISSB proposes that these should be made mandatory. Planet Tracker fully supports this.

At the same time billions are being invested in AI, billions are divested away from the intelligence found in nature, on which our economies and societies rely. This blog argues that the risk-reward of this ‘buy AI, sell nature’ approach is a poor trade to make: AI is convenient, but costly and risky, whilst nature is essential, freely available and harmless. Now is the time to close the short: read on to discover twenty practical ways to invest in nature.

Today, on World Environment Day, we reflect on the latest round of negotiations towards a Global Plastic Pollution Treaty and what financial markets should take away from the discussions.

To have any hope of limiting climate heating to 1.50C: stopping deforestation and cutting methane emissions by 45% before 2030 are essential to meet our interlinked climate, nature and development goals and significantly reduce the food system’s GhG footprint. Transforming the energy system alone will not be sufficient. Unfortunately, many financial institutions have been ignoring the problems of deforestation and methane emissions for far too long. 61% of financial institutions covered by Global Canopy’s latest Forest 500 survey do not have any policies to tackle deforestation in their lending or investment portfolios. With only seven years left to achieve these targets, action must be taken now.

If you’re looking for a job where compensation can be linked to your impact, consider becoming Head of Traceability (HoT), especially at a nature-dependent company. We found only 18 companies with a Head of Traceability – excluding companies whose business is to sell traceability solutions and government agencies. By comparison, there are at least 10,000 Heads of Sustainability on LinkedIn. One of the possible reasons why HoTs are a rare species could be that it exposes management to more searching questions from financial institutions, which should be engaging with company executives and enquiring where the traceability function sits within their management structure.

The IPCC Sixth Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all. It demonstrates a clear recognition of the interconnection between nature and climate. A number of intertwined factors need to be addressed by policymakers alongside climate change. This includes nature and its ecosystems.

Decarbonisation is a business imperative for companies looking to remain competitive in the long term. As such, organisations must develop a clear understanding of their current carbon footprint and devise strategies for reducing and ultimately eliminating their emissions. According to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) this ‘climate transition process’ has set over 1,600 companies on a 30-year journey to Net Zero. Planet Tracker, has developed a disclosure assessment template which can be used by investors and lenders to determine the credibility of a company’s climate transition plan.

The United Nations (UN) 2023 Water Conference in New York from 22 to 24 March 2023 will be the first UN Conference to focus strictly on water since 1977. It builds on the momentum generated by frameworks such as the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Commonly traded food products consume vastly different amounts of water. This blog examines how much water major food products require and exposes this hidden trade network. For example, cocoa beans consume 100 times as much total water as sugar crops. Beef, the most water-intensive animal derived product, consumes about 3 to 4 times more than chicken or pork.

Perhaps the most discussed fashion event of the year will be the Oscars – the Academy Awards - red carpet parade on 12 March 2023, with live streamed blogs of the fashion choices on show and much discussion in subsequent press coverage. But one of the biggest challenges facing the fashion industry in its move towards greater sustainability is changing the way we consume fashion and a red carpet outfit is often the antithesis of a sustainable fashion choice.

In the Planet Tracker Valuing the Food system dashboard, the user is able to adjust various valuation variables. We provide two main valuation approaches: Scenario 1 (S1) based on the number of businesses and Scenario 2 (S2) based on the protein price (both discussed in more detail in ‘How much is your food worth?').

Deforestation regulation in the EU is likely to be adopted in the next 12 months requiring EU importers to confirm that cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, wood and derived products are deforestation-free. This Regulation asks a major question of importing corporates as to whether they have traceability within their supply chains and has the potential to disrupt corporates which do not have traceability and responsible sourcing embedded within their supply chain.

One indicator of the importance of a topic to investment managers is whether it features on the agenda at annual shareholder meetings. So where does biodiversity rank? How does it compare with the climate agenda? This blog shows that biodiversity is rarely discussed – although there are signs this will change.

Valuing the global food system is challenging. Planet Tracker has set out to do this by analysing 400,000 companies connected to food. We estimate the asset value of the system is c. USD 14 trillion, with revenues in the region of USD 15 to 19 trillion (equivalent to c. 20% of global GDP). This is how we did it.

Recently concerns have been raised that corporates are ‘greenhushing’, when organisations deliberately choose to hide their green or ESG credentials from public view. Is this an indication that civil society or investors have gone too far in their demands for sustainability metrics, leaving management teams cautious about declaring their progress on green or sustainability issues, or the next step in the evolvement of increasingly sophisticated greenwashing?