TNFD shares final disclosure guidelines for maritime industry as world leaders gather for oceans

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has released its final guidelines for fishing, shipping and cruise operators, as world leaders gather to discuss ocean sustainability.

The TNFD guidance aims to support the maritime sector in understanding and reporting the impacts of their operations on the ocean’s unique ecosystem, which is governed across complex transboundary regimes. 

Guidance for fishing companies

Guidelines for the fishing industry were developed through engagement with over 100 organisations across the fishing and marine aquarium trade value chains, and are aligned with the Science Based Target Network’s (SBTN) target guidance for seafood companies. They cover issues such as dependencies on healthy fish populations and exposure to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

TNFD has also developed an interoperability table between its fishing disclosures and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to allow MSC-certified fisheries to report against TNFD metrics more efficiently. This will also ensure that investors have access to comparable information, building on metrics and data already widely in use.

Shipping and cruise lines

In addition, TNFD has published a set of guidelines to help the marine transportation sector and cruise lines identify, assess and manage their nature-related issues, including interactions with ecologically-sensitive areas such as marine protected areas and migratory corridors for marine mammals. 

The organisation also highlights the need for better understanding and disclosure of critical dependencies, such as the cruise line sector’s reliance on coral reef ecosystems.

The new set of guidelines come with a discussion paper exploring current ocean-related measurement and metrics related to corporates and financial institutions, and a survey on ocean-related issues, open until October 1, 2025. 

Two global conferences to tackle ocean degradation

 "Our ocean is critical to life on Earth and the resilience of our global economy, yet it remains underrepresented in most corporate and financial decision-making. With these new materials, TNFD aims to help organisations better understand and respond to the unique challenges and opportunities of ocean-related nature risks," commented Razan Al Mubarak, Co-Chair, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

The guidance is released as world leaders engage in policy discussions at the Blue Economy & Finance Forum (BEFF) in Monaco and UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice over the coming week.

Today as French President Emmanuel Macron opened the UNOC summit in Nice, he called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining – a few weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to unilaterally start issuing deep sea mining licenses in both US and international waters. 

Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI, sees 2025 as “a turning point” for aligning capital opportunities and ocean health. He added: "Equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest economy, the ocean must be central to nature-positive finance, yet Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life Below Water – remains the least funded of all the SDGs. UNEP FI welcomes TNFD’s focus on ocean-related nature disclosures and continuing our collaboration to ensure the ocean is no longer left behind."