More than 1,000 organizations across 56 countries now publish nature-related disclosures aligned with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) — and the framework guiding them just got its first major overhaul. TNFD has released LEAP 2.0, the first upgrade of its core approach for assessing and reporting nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities.

The timing matters. TNFD announced last year that it will end its technical work program in late 2026, after the IFRS Foundation's International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) unveiled plans to begin standard-setting for nature-related disclosure requirements. LEAP 2.0 is one of the last major technical deliverables the taskforce will produce.

The handoff is already taking shape. The ISSB has said its nature-based disclosure work will draw on the LEAP approach, and TNFD plans to contribute to an ISO standard built on LEAP 2.0's assessment method. In plain terms: the framework isn't retiring, it's migrating into formal standard-setting.

What does LEAP 2.0 change?

The LEAP approach walks organizations through four phases — Locate, Evaluate, Assess and Prepare — covering the interface with nature, dependencies and impacts, resulting risks and opportunities, and final disclosures.

LEAP 2.0 integrates updates drawn from market feedback. Key changes include:

• Expanded guidance for assessing nature-related risks and opportunities
• New state-of-nature measurement support for evaluating dependencies and impacts
• Portfolio-level assessment guidance for financial institutions
• Considerations of environmental crime
• Integration of nature into transition planning
• New guidance on measuring invasive alien species

The update also incorporates the State of Nature Indicators and Metrics — a fresh indicator set for measuring the state of nature, released by the Nature Positive Initiative (NPI).

Who is behind it, and why now?

TNFD launched in 2021, building on the model of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). It published its final recommendations for nature-related risk management and disclosure in September 2023, alongside the original LEAP approach.

The release lands ahead of COP 17, the UN biodiversity conference. It also arrives in step with two companion developments: updated science-based nature target-setting methods from the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), and the new NPI metrics.

TNFD CEO Tony Goldner framed the update around implementation scale. He said:

"The market has moved quickly in recent years, with thousands of organisations now working to understand and respond to their nature-related issues. As implementation accelerates, it is essential that assessment, target-setting and reporting approaches work together in a practical and mutually reinforcing way."

That quote signals the design goal: LEAP 2.0 is meant to interlock with the SBTN target-setting methods and the NPI metrics rather than run parallel to them. For reporting teams, one integrated pipeline instead of three competing ones.

What happens next?

The clock now runs on two fronts. TNFD's technical work program closes in late 2026, and the ISSB's move into nature-related standard-setting — which will absorb the LEAP approach — determines what corporate disclosure requirements eventually look like on paper. Whether the ISO standard based on LEAP 2.0 materializes, and how closely the ISSB mirrors the framework, is the milestone that decides the next chapter.