Tata Steel’s Koushik Chatterjee to head TNFD’s India Consultation Group

By Kalinga Voice Last updated May 25, 2022

~India Consultation Group will be convened by India’s Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)~
~Six TNFD Consultation Groups formed include Australia & New Zealand, India, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom~

Mumbai: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), at the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, announced the formation of six national consultation groups including one in India which will be convened by Confederation of India Industries (CII). This is part of the strategy to expand outreach and engagement in markets where significant interest in the work of the Taskforce has already been established. The consultation with market participants and other stakeholders will be on their nature-related risk and opportunity management to inform the design and development of the TNFD’s recommendations.

The Consultation Groups are market-led, with a convening organisation from the private sector bringing together business, finance, public sector, and civil society organisations to discuss nature-related business and finance issues and the future adoption of the global TNFD framework.

The India Consultation Group will be chaired by Tata Steel’s ED & CFO, Koushik Chatterjee, who is also part of a taskforce comprising 34 individuals representing financial institutions, businesses, and market service providers, leading the efforts to develop TNFD’s nature-risk framework. Chatterjee had joined the TNFD task force in 2021, shortly after its official launch in June of the same year as a representative of the Steel sector which has both a large impact and dependency on nature.

On his appointment as the Chair, Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director &Chief Financial Officer said: “The formation of the country-specific TNFD Consultation Groups including that in India in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry will provide Indian corporations an opportunity to further mainstream the discussion on nature-related business and financial risks and opportunities. It is important that corporates understand and adopt the nuances and perspectives of nature-related risks and opportunities which forms an important element of the Sustainable Development Goals. I am very confident that the TNFD India Consultation Group will not only provide inputs and feedback to the TNFD but also help Indian companies on the preparation and adoption of the TNFD framework.”

The other five consultation groups include Australia & New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Additional Consultation Groups are expected to be announced throughout 2022 and 2023 based on demand and interest from market participants.

Tata Steel has a long history of leadership in sustainability practices, including measurement and awareness of the consumption of natural capital. Tata Steel is a signatory to the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures and has identified transition risks and opportunities to decarbonise its operations over a period and plans to mitigate these risks across all geographies. The Company has also set up its first scrap processing plant, which is a definitive step towards sustainable steel production. Both, Tata Steel India and Tata Steel Europe have been recognised by the World Steel Association as Steel Sustainability Champions for five year in a row. It is now part of ResponsibleSteel^TM, the industry’s first global multi-stakeholder standard and certification initiative that helps its members improve sustainability within the steel supply chain. Tata Steel has been listed as 2021 Supplier Engagement Leader by CDP.