Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures starts nature data access pilots to design a Nature Data Public Facility and launches SME assessment technology challenge

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) announced a new phase of work to upgrade market access to decision-useful nature data, with recommendations due to be released at COP30 following market consultations and pilot testing beginning in June 2025. In parallel, TNFD is launching a “Grand Challenge” with the United Nations Development Programme and support from Germany’s International Climate Initiative to stimulate technology solutions that enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to rapidly assess nature-related issues. Pilot testing will run until October 2025 and involve more than 40 upstream nature data providers and over 20 downstream nature data users and market intermediaries, supported by a group of implementation partners including UNEP-WCMC, Icebreaker One, EY, Esri, Addleshaw Goddard, the Open Geospatial Consortium, IUCN, Global Canopy, Capitals Coalition, the Group on Earth Observations Secretariat, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance and WWF. The programme will test and refine nature-data principles for data quality and “fitness for purpose”, assess representative datasets against three market use cases (corporate reporting, target setting, and transition planning), identify priority data gaps needing long-term funding, and run user experience testing to refine design specifications for a possible Nature Data Public Facility first proposed by TNFD in 2023. The SME Grand Challenge will be managed by Conservation X Labs, with start-ups and entrepreneurs invited to participate and a shortlist of solutions to be showcased at COP30 in Brazil in November.