FfB Foundation partners with IFC to launch the Biodiversity Finance Metrics for Impact Reporting
Today, IFC – International Finance Corporation in collaboration with BNP Paribas, Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, Natixis Investment Managers, Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the Wildlife Conservation Society launched a supplement to the IFC’s first-to-market Biodiversity Finance Reference Guide , which lays out impact reporting metrics for each eligible activity. The supplement aims to address the growing demand from the market for more comprehensive guidance on impact reporting for biodiversity and nature finance activities, helping markets to efficiently transition to nature-smart approaches and to attract private capital at scale.
The IFC Biodiversity Finance Metrics for Impact Reporting, a supplement to IFC’s Biodiversity Finance Reference Guide, can be accessed here.
This supplement to IFC’s Biodiversity Finance Reference Guide is designed to provide expanded guidance on impact reporting for eligible biodiversity finance activities. The guide builds on established recommendations outlined in the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA’s) Green Bond Principles and in the Green Loan Principles to provide indicative investment activities and project components eligible for biodiversity finance. Impact reporting is one of the four core components required for alignment with the Green Bond and Loan Principles and seeks to ensure transparency and accountability. This supplement aims to facilitate effective impact reporting by offering indicative metrics for each eligible biodiversity finance activity identified in the guide. Considering the evolving landscape of sustainable finance, this document also offers preliminary considerations on the potential applicability of these metrics to sustainability-linked financing instruments.
To develop this supplement, IFC collaborated with the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation, BNP Paribas, Natixis, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The metrics are informed by current best practices in the market for reporting, such as the ICMA Handbook – Harmonized Framework for Impact Reporting, the Harmonized Indicators for Private Sector Operations, and the TNFD’s recommended core and additional global disclosure metrics as well as the TNFD’s core and additional sector metrics.
About IFC’s Biodiversity Finance Reference Guide
Since the publication of the updated IFC Biodiversity Finance Reference Guide in May 2023, there has been growing demand from the market for more comprehensive guidance on impact reporting for biodiversity finance activities. This supplement responds to the demand and serves as a companion resource to the original guide.
It expands on the preliminary impact reporting guidance provided in the guide and suggests specific metrics for each of the investment activities and project components laid out in Table 1. The intention is to provide guidance to issuers and borrowers on metrics that could be used for impact reporting purposes to strengthen alignment with the reporting core component of the Green Bond and Loan Principles. The document draws on and aligns with the latest market practices wherever possible.