TNFD shares recommendations to improve nature data and launch NDPF

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has released recommendations to improve and harmonise nature data – which includes launching the Nature Data Public Facility first proposed in 2023.  

The set of eight recommendations aim to catalyse a whole-of-value-chain mindset shift about the discoverability, quality and accessibility of nature-related data as a strategic global public good. They include a set of nature data principles to help enhance the quality of state-of-nature data over time, an accompanying set of metadata standards for state-of-nature data, incentives and mechanism for companies to provide qualifying state-of-nature data they have collected on a proprietary basis back into the global public commons, and a nature data measurement protocol.

In addition, TNFD has laid out a blueprint to govern, launch, operate and finance the Nature Data Public Facility (NDPF), a publicly accessible database for harmonised corporate nature disclosures, targets and transition plans, which it first proposed in 2023 and started pilot testing in June.

"The nature data value chain is at a critical inflection point. While the nature-related assessment and reporting flywheel has now begun to turn and demand for high-quality nature data continues to grow exponentially, trust and confidence in state-of-nature data remains a significant issue. At the same time, upstream data collectors and aggregators on the front line need more funding to support their critical work. 

“State-of-nature data is a strategic public good of global importance but it urgently needs a set of global commons mechanisms to drive an upgrade in the quality and timeliness of the nature data that everyone is looking for,” said David Craig, Co-Chair of the TNFD and former founder and CEO of market data provider Refinitiv.

Nature Data Public Facility governance and operations

According to TNFD, the facility is designed to address concerns among downstream data users about data quality, accessibility and timeliness and to generate a new and additional source of funding for upstream nature data collectors and aggregators.  

The blueprint released this week is based on input from a range of global nature data providers, aggregators and independent experts as well as market consultations on current experience, user needs and user experience testing. 

Between March and September 2025, more than 100 state-of-nature datasets from more than 40 data providers around the world were evaluated against nature data principles, and over 25 companies, financial institutions and market intermediaries tested accessing and using those datasets through a sandbox facility. 

To finance the facility and ensure everyone who needs access to the data is able to access it, the TNFD blueprint proposes that the NDPF would charge access and licensing fees to large companies and financial institutions and subsidise free and open access to SMEs with less than 50 employees and revenues under US$2million. It would also compensate data provision partners for the datasets they provide and generate a surplus of funds beyond 2030 for investment into priority nature data collection efforts. 

To oversee those efforts, the TNFD proposes the creation of a new international body, a Nature Data Trust.

“I commend TNFD for its valuable work on the nature data value chain and its recommendation for a sustainable funding model to support those curating scientifically-credible data. Access to robust, decision-useful information about the state of nature is essential to understanding society’s dependencies and impacts on the natural world. Our futures – and the future of business – depend on nature. IUCN looks forward to supporting the formulation of the NDPF and playing an active role in its success,” said Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).