First Sentier Investors will set first nature targets as Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Adopter

Tuesday, 8 October 2024: First Sentier Investors, a leading global investment manager, today announces that it is setting its first nature targets as a Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Adopter, in the lead up to the inaugural Global Nature Positive Summit hosted in Sydney this week.

The TNFD offers recommendations and guidance to organisations and provides them with risk management and disclosure frameworks to act on evolving nature related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. TNFD Adopters have registered their intention to making public disclosures in their corporate reporting in the financial years 2023, 2024 or 2025 against the TNFD Recommendations. 

Kate Turner, Global Head of Responsible Investment at First Sentier Investors, said: “As a TNFD Adopter, we continue our role as responsible active stewards of our clients’ capital. We are pleased to affirm our commitment to improving nature reporting and ongoing engagement with investee companies to reduce nature-related impacts, mitigate risks, identify and value dependencies and seize opportunities. 

“These targets are also a natural step forward for First Sentier Investors, since becoming a signatory of the Finance for Biodiversity (FfB) Pledge in 2021. As part of our FfB pledge to set goals to reduce our organisation’s impacts on nature and biodiversity, we are pleased to formalise the progress we have made as a business in this area by setting our inaugural nature targets,” continued Ms Turner.

First Sentier Investors’ initial nature targets will be published later this week. Disclosure on the organisation’s progress against these targets will be integrated into its climate and nature report, published in 2025. As a member of the FfB Foundation’s Target Setting Working Group, the targets are aligned with Initiation Targets recommended in the Nature Target Setting Framework for Asset Managers and Asset Owners prepared by the FfB Working Group in 2024. 

First Sentier Investors’ nature targets for 2025 will span three key areas:

• Governance: Disclose a clear firm-wide governance structure for nature, outlining board oversight and management responsibilities in an integrated manner with the existing governance structure for broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.  
• Assessment: Conduct and publicly disclose an assessment of dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities for in-scope investments (listed equities and corporate bonds).  
• Training: All relevant employees will have completed training on the relation between nature loss and investment.  

Joanne Lee, Responsible Investment Director at First Sentier Investors, said: “While these will be initial targets, they set a clear direction for our firm’s future endeavours. They build on the progress that the business has already made in this area and align with the TNFD’s four disclosure pillars.”

The nature targets are an extension of the firm’s work to date. It has established board oversight and management responsibilities within its ESG and climate governance structure, trained investment teams on nature since 2022 and disclosed sector level impacts and dependencies across its listed equities investments in its 2022 and 2023 Responsible Investment Report. 

“Importantly, we believe in the role that investors play in directing global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes which aligns with the TNFD’s objective,” concluded Lee.