Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks
Businesses are embedded within nature. Their supply chains, operations, and products fundamentally depend on and impact nature. These impacts and dependencies can give rise to nature-related risks (as well as related opportunities). However, despite growing expectations from stakeholders, most busin...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-06-01
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Series: | Environmental and Sustainability Indicators |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665972724000199 |
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author | Greg S. Smith Francisco Ascui Anthony P. O'Grady Elizabeth Pinkard |
author_facet | Greg S. Smith Francisco Ascui Anthony P. O'Grady Elizabeth Pinkard |
author_sort | Greg S. Smith |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Businesses are embedded within nature. Their supply chains, operations, and products fundamentally depend on and impact nature. These impacts and dependencies can give rise to nature-related risks (as well as related opportunities). However, despite growing expectations from stakeholders, most businesses are currently not adequately measuring and reporting on these. To date, it has not been clear whether this requires the development of entirely new indicators, or whether various existing sustainability reporting frameworks could provide sufficient information on nature-related risks. This paper evaluates the decision-usefulness of existing indicators for the softwood plantation forestry industry in Australia. Decision-usefulness is assessed against three criteria: (1) relevance and completeness; (2) faithful representation; and (3) comparability. The results show some potential for adaptation of indicators already used in sustainability-related corporate accounting and reporting, which could help reduce the reporting burden and encourage uptake. However, gaps remain in measuring the financial consequences for business from nature-related risks and in providing sufficient comparable information to evaluate performance across industries and locations. Implications are discussed in relation to recent recommendations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) sustainability standards IFRS S1 and S2. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:14:21Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9b98659a3f784892bb91c56d1ed12129 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2665-9727 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-08T05:14:21Z |
publishDate | 2024-06-01 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | Article |
series | Environmental and Sustainability Indicators |
spelling | doaj.art-9b98659a3f784892bb91c56d1ed121292024-02-07T04:45:44ZengElsevierEnvironmental and Sustainability Indicators2665-97272024-06-0122100351Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risksGreg S. Smith0Francisco Ascui1Anthony P. O'Grady2Elizabeth Pinkard3CSIRO Environment, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Corresponding author.Centre for EResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI), Federation University Australia, Victoria, AustraliaCSIRO Environment, Hobart, Tasmania, AustraliaCSIRO Environment, Hobart, Tasmania, AustraliaBusinesses are embedded within nature. Their supply chains, operations, and products fundamentally depend on and impact nature. These impacts and dependencies can give rise to nature-related risks (as well as related opportunities). However, despite growing expectations from stakeholders, most businesses are currently not adequately measuring and reporting on these. To date, it has not been clear whether this requires the development of entirely new indicators, or whether various existing sustainability reporting frameworks could provide sufficient information on nature-related risks. This paper evaluates the decision-usefulness of existing indicators for the softwood plantation forestry industry in Australia. Decision-usefulness is assessed against three criteria: (1) relevance and completeness; (2) faithful representation; and (3) comparability. The results show some potential for adaptation of indicators already used in sustainability-related corporate accounting and reporting, which could help reduce the reporting burden and encourage uptake. However, gaps remain in measuring the financial consequences for business from nature-related risks and in providing sufficient comparable information to evaluate performance across industries and locations. Implications are discussed in relation to recent recommendations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) sustainability standards IFRS S1 and S2.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665972724000199Natural capitalNature-related risksTaskforce on nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD)Corporate reportingImpacts and dependenciesIndicators |
spellingShingle | Greg S. Smith Francisco Ascui Anthony P. O'Grady Elizabeth Pinkard Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks Environmental and Sustainability Indicators Natural capital Nature-related risks Taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD) Corporate reporting Impacts and dependencies Indicators |
title | Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks |
title_full | Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks |
title_fullStr | Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks |
title_full_unstemmed | Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks |
title_short | Indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks |
title_sort | indicators for measuring and reporting corporate nature related impacts dependencies and risks |
topic | Natural capital Nature-related risks Taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD) Corporate reporting Impacts and dependencies Indicators |
url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665972724000199 |
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