Tata Steel’s Koushik Chatterjee to head TNFD’s India Consultation Group

India Consultation Group will be convened by India’s Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)

UditVani, Mumbai/Jamshedpur: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, announced the formation of six national consultation groups including one in India which will be convened by Confederation of India Industries (CII). This is part of the strategy to expand outreach and engagement in markets where significant interest in the work of the Taskforce has already been established. The consultation with market participants and other stakeholders will be on their nature-related risk and opportunity management to inform the design and development of the TNFD’s recommendations.
The Consultation Groups are market-led, with a convening organisation from the private sector bringing together business, finance, public sector, and civil society organisations to discuss nature-related business and finance issues and the future adoption of the global TNFD framework.
The India Consultation Group will be chaired by Tata Steel’s Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer, Koushik Chatterjee, who is also part of a taskforce comprising 34 individuals representing financial institutions, businesses, and market service providers, leading the efforts to develop TNFD’s nature-risk framework. Chatterjee had joined the TNFD task force in 2021, shortly after its official launch in June of the same year as a representative of the Steel sector which has both a large impact and dependency on nature.
The other five consultation groups include Australia & New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Additional Consultation Groups are expected to be announced throughout 2022 and 2023 based on demand and interest from market participants.
On his appointment as the Chair, Koushik Chatterjee, said: “The formation of the country-specific TNFD Consultation Groups including that in India in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry will provide Indian corporations an opportunity to further mainstream the discussion on nature-related business and financial risks and opportunities. It is important that corporates understand and adopt the nuances and perspectives of nature-related risks and opportunities which forms an important element of the Sustainable Development Goals. I am very confident that the TNFD India Consultation Group will not only provide inputs and feedback to the TNFD but also help Indian companies on the preparation and adoption of the TNFD framework.”
Tata Steel has a long history of leadership in sustainability practices, including measurement and awareness of the consumption of natural capital. Tata Steel is a signatory to the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures and has identified transition risks and opportunities to decarbonise its operations over a period and plans to mitigate these risks across all geographies. The Company has also set up its first scrap processing plant, which is a definitive step towards sustainable steel production. Both, Tata Steel India and Tata Steel Europe have been recognised by the World Steel Association as Steel Sustainability Champions for five year in a row. It is now part of ResponsibleSteelTM, the industry’s first global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative that helps its members improve sustainability within the steel supply chain. Tata Steel has been listed as 2021 Supplier Engagement Leader by CDP.
Taskforce Members with assets of US$18.3 trillion working to develop the TNFD framework:
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has been established to develop and deliver an integrated risk management and disclosure framework for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks, with the ultimate aim to support a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes.
34 Taskforce Members with assets of over US$18.3 trillion are working with the TNFD Co-Chairs to develop the TNFD framework. 13 core knowledge partners from leading science, standards, and data bodies feed into the work of the Taskforce. A group of over 300 institutions support the work of the Taskforce as part of the TNFD Forum.
The TNFD will deliver its framework in 2023, enabling organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks. Better information will allow financial institutions and companies to incorporate nature-related risks and opportunities into their decision-making processes.
The TNFD initiative was brought together by four founding partners, Global Canopy, UNDP, UNEP FI, and WWF in September2020. After a preparatory phase of nine months, it officially launched in June 2021. The TNFD is funded through the support of the UK, Australian, Swiss and Dutch Government, the UNDP, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Children’s Investment Foundation Fund (CIFF).