TCFD conference cements industry focus on sustainability targets

This week’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Conference, organised by Sustainable Finance Ireland and hosted by AIB at their Dublin Headquarters, has established a “tremendous foundation” upon which Irish industry can develop strategies and responses to their mounting obligations when it comes to reporting around climate and nature related issues.

That’s according to David Carlin, TCFD and Climate Risk Program Lead for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI,) a foremost global expert on the TCFD campaign.

Mr. Carlin, who was a keynote speaker at this week’s event, highlighted the importance of industry cooperation when it comes to formulating a collective response to sustainability demands.

“TCFD offers this comprehensive framework for thinking about the governance strategy, risk management and metrics and targets that organizations are going to set in order to approach climate change, both the physical as well as transition risks,” he said, “and with this information, institutions can be better prepared internally.”

The collaborative approach

A key function of the TCFD campaign is to allow for a peer exchange of information, sharing not only best practices from around the world, regulatory developments, but exploring each of these pillars in detail, with the objective and purpose of giving those institutions the tools that they need to be successful.

David Carlin cited the importance of viewing TCFD, “not just as a reporting exercise and a learning exercise, but as a doing exercise,” and paid tribute to those within industry who are working to move the process forward.

“Seeing the engagement and the questions is a real testament, not only to the (TCFD conference) organizers, but also to the organizations involved. What I would say as we look ahead is this is a tremendous foundation to begin with and a great start.”

Future Ambitions

“It’s been a real pleasure to be part of the TCFD campaign here in Ireland, and the work that SFI has done is tremendous in bringing together a diverse cohort from the financial sector, as well as a number of corporates, to really explore the principles of the TCFD through those four pillars of governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets, but also really to think about how to operationalize.” – David Carlin

Those within industry who have signed up to the TCFD campaign have taken a massive first step in operational coordination to respond to sustainability demands, however now David Carlin says we must expand our ambition.

“The organizations that have gotten involved here are continuing this journey,” he said, “we’re really looking forward not only to the next sets of commitments that they make, but also to the increasing ambition and increasing knowledge that they will bring and.. share with peers both in Ireland and throughout the world.”