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Interview with JANE STEVENSEN, Engagement Director to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) at CDP and Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB)The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is an industry initiative led by Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg. The Task Force represents a significant step forward in disclosing and managing climate risk through mainstream reports, making board members more accountable for climate governance and strategy. Its final recommendations will be presented to the G20 in Hamburg, Germany, this July. CCTNE’s Executive Editor Elizabeth Renski spoke with Jane Stevensen about TCFD’s game changing work and the strengths female climate leaders bring to the table.As CDP and CDSB’s Engagement Director to TCFD what are the synergies between the three organisations? CDP has been promoting investor-relevant corporate climate disclosure for 15 years. Last year more than 5,600 companies disclosed environmental data through CDP. The main aim of the TCFD is to mainstream climate information for increased governance and oversight at board-level. This will allow investors, auditors, shareholders and key stakeholders to access this critical information as part of the annual filing. CDP and CDSB facilitates this. CDP’s core mission is the drive for mandating regulatory global disclosure and CDSB is the organisation with the framework to translate environmental and natural capital information into mainstream financial language. The CDP reporting platform in partnership with CDSB’s frameworks provide businesses with the toolkit and the methodology to disclose for financial markets. CDP has committed to adopt the Task Force’s recommendations in their entirety in the 2018 disclosure cycle. Why is the TFCD so significant given there are no members of governments, no regulators or NGOs among its 32 members?The Task Force was created by Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg’s vision to create a business environment that clearly recognises that an organisation’s climate exposure and financial risks are interrelated. The Task Force itself is made up of a group of senior executives from across the private sector representing global businesses, creating jobs and driving economies and GDP. Task Force members have taken time out of demanding roles at the top of businesses to work within the TCFD for more than a year. In a remarkably short timeframe, an impressive set of recommendations on the implications of climate risk and climate disclosure has been published. This report is a game changer which will drive boards to engage with climate risk beyond the sustainability department. The focus is squarely on climate governance, strategy and risk management from board level to the frontline. The Task Force has demonstrated real leadership sending a clear message that climate change is recognised by global businesses as critical to addressing long-term financial risks. While it is the leaders of multinationals who drive the TCFD, how can SMEs or businesses who may not be so well versed on climate risks be encouraged to follow the TCFD’s recommendations? What is in it for them? I think this touches on a very important issue. There are quite a number of major global businesses who perhaps are not as advanced as the members of the Task Force in understanding climate risk. One of the key recommendations in the report is an acknowledgement that there is a lack of climate CLIMATE RISK AS A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY054 FINANCE AND INVESTMENT