Regulators and investors are paying closer attention to how companies depend on and affect the natural world. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) developed the TNFD LEAP approach as a structured methodology for identifying and assessing these nature-related issues. LEAP stands for Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare. Each phase builds on the previous one, guiding organizations from geographic data collection through to disclosure-ready reporting. This guide walks through all four phases, the tools available for each, and how to get started with your first LEAP assessment.
What Is the TNFD LEAP Approach?
The TNFD LEAP approach is a voluntary, internal due diligence process for identifying and assessing nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities. It was developed alongside the TNFD framework and published in September 2023 after pilot testing by more than 240 organizations worldwide.
LEAP is structured around four phases:
- Locate your interface with nature
- Evaluate your dependencies and impacts
- Assess your nature-related risks and opportunities
- Prepare to respond and report
Using LEAP is not required to make TNFD-aligned disclosures. Organizations with existing due diligence processes can use LEAP as a checklist to verify coverage. The approach builds on established frameworks including the Natural Capital Protocol, the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) methodology, and the ISSB materiality assessment approach.
A critical design principle: LEAP is intended as an iterative approach with components, not a rigid process with sequential steps. Financial institutions with large global portfolios may use the components differently than corporates with concentrated operations. The TNFD encourages each organization to adapt LEAP to its specific context.
Phase 1: Locate Your Interface with Nature
The Locate phase is the most data-intensive stage of the TNFD LEAP approach. It answers a fundamental question: where does your organization interact with nature? This phase maps your business operations, value chain, and geographic footprint to specific ecosystems and biomes.
L1: Map Your Business Model and Value Chain
Start by identifying your direct operations, upstream suppliers, and downstream activities by sector and geography. Every physical location needs geographic coordinates. For organizations with hundreds or thousands of locations across supply chains, batch geocoding converts addresses into latitude-longitude pairs at scale. Every subsequent step in the LEAP assessment builds on this geographic foundation.
L2: Screen for Nature Dependencies and Impacts
Not every sector or value chain carries the same nature-related risk. L2 filters your operations to identify which carry moderate-to-high dependencies or impacts on nature. The ENCORE database maps 167 economic sub-industries against 21 ecosystem services and is a widely used tool for this screening step. The goal is to narrow your scope before investing in detailed location-level analysis.
L3: Identify Biomes and Ecosystems at Each Interface
For locations flagged in L2, the next step is mapping the biomes and ecosystems at each site. What type of land cover surrounds the facility? Is it tropical forest, grassland, wetland, or agricultural land? Satellite-based land use land cover analysis provides this classification at any coordinate on earth. Change detection data showing tree cover loss, crop expansion, or urbanization trends maps directly to what the TNFD calls the “land/freshwater/ocean use change” driver of nature change.
Continuuiti automates the data-intensive Locate phase: batch-geocode operational and supply chain locations, run satellite-based land cover analysis to map nature interfaces, and screen every site for climate-related physical risks. The LULC change detection data covering tree loss, crop expansion, and urbanization over 2020-2025 maps directly to TNFD’s “land/freshwater/ocean use change” driver.
L4: Flag Ecologically Sensitive Locations
The final Locate step identifies which of your operations sit in or near ecologically sensitive areas. The TNFD highlights several categories: Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), protected areas under national or international designation, RAMSAR wetland sites, and water-stressed basins. The Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) provides KBA and protected area proximity data. WRI Aqueduct covers basin-level water stress. No single platform currently covers all L4 requirements, so most organizations combine multiple data sources for this step.
Phase 2: Evaluate Dependencies and Impacts
With your nature interfaces mapped, the Evaluate phase examines what your organization depends on from those ecosystems and how your operations affect them. The TNFD uses the concept of dependency and impact pathways, drawn from the Natural Capital Protocol.
Components E1 and E2 focus on identification. What environmental assets and ecosystem services exist at each location? Ecosystem services fall into three categories: provisioning (timber, freshwater, food), regulating (flood mitigation, pollination, air filtration), and cultural (recreation, spiritual value). Your organization may depend on these services directly or indirectly through its supply chain.
Components E3 and E4 move to measurement and materiality. How severe are your negative impacts? What is the scale and scope of your dependencies? The TNFD identifies five drivers of nature change that structure this analysis: climate change, land and freshwater use change, resource use and replenishment, pollution, and invasive alien species introduction.
Biodiversity metrics and ecosystem service valuation remain the primary data challenges in this phase. Most organizations lack internal data on species populations, genetic diversity, or ecosystem condition at their operating locations. Third-party biodiversity data providers and environmental consultancies typically fill this gap for the Evaluate phase.
Phase 3: Assess Nature-Related Risks and Opportunities
The Assess phase translates dependencies and impacts into business-relevant risks and opportunities. The TNFD distinguishes three risk categories:
- Physical risks: Direct exposure to nature degradation, such as water scarcity affecting operations or pollinator decline reducing crop yields. Climate-related physical risks overlap significantly with traditional physical climate risk assessment — flood, drought, wildfire, and extreme heat all affect both climate and nature outcomes.
- Transition risks: Policy changes, market shifts, and technology disruption driven by the transition to a nature-positive economy. New regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation or mandatory biodiversity reporting create compliance obligations.
- Systemic risks: Large-scale ecosystem collapse or tipping points that affect entire sectors or regions. Coral reef degradation affecting fisheries and coastal tourism is one example.
Components A3 and A4 prioritize these risks and determine which are material enough to warrant disclosure under the TNFD’s 14 recommended disclosures. The materiality assessment aligns with the ISSB approach, ensuring consistency for organizations already reporting under IFRS S1 and S2.
How the TNFD LEAP Approach Differs from TCFD
Organizations familiar with climate risk reporting under the TCFD framework will recognize structural similarities. Both frameworks use four pillars for disclosure: Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics and Targets. The key differences lie in scope and assessment methodology.
| Dimension | TCFD | TNFD LEAP |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Climate-related risks only | All nature-related risks (land, ocean, freshwater, atmosphere) |
| Assessment method | Scenario analysis | LEAP 4-phase approach with scenario analysis as one component |
| Geographic analysis | Optional | Core requirement (Locate phase) |
| Dependencies | Not explicitly assessed | Dedicated phase (Evaluate) |
TCFD was dissolved into the ISSB in 2024, but its structure lives on in IFRS S2. The TNFD was designed to complement this existing climate disclosure architecture by extending it to cover nature beyond climate.
Phase 4: Prepare to Respond and Report
The final phase of the TNFD LEAP approach moves from assessment to action and disclosure. It covers four components:
- P1: Strategy and resource allocation. Based on the risks and opportunities identified in Phase 3, decide where to allocate resources. Which locations need mitigation plans? Where are the nature-positive opportunities?
- P2: Target setting. Define measurable targets aligned with science-based frameworks. The Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) methodology provides a structure for setting land, freshwater, ocean, and biodiversity targets.
- P3: Reporting. Prepare disclosure statements aligned with the TNFD’s 14 recommended disclosures across the four pillars.
- P4: Presentation. Determine where and how to present nature-related disclosures in annual reports, sustainability reports, or standalone TNFD reports.
After completing the Prepare phase, organizations should circle back to the Locate phase with refined scope and updated data. The TNFD explicitly designs LEAP as an iterative cycle aligned with corporate reporting periods, not a one-time exercise.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the LEAP approach of TNFD?
The LEAP approach is the TNFD’s recommended methodology for identifying and assessing nature-related issues. It stands for Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare. Organizations use LEAP as an internal due diligence process to understand their dependencies on nature, measure their impacts, assess resulting risks and opportunities, and prepare disclosure-ready reports.
What are the 4 pillars of TNFD?
The TNFD’s four disclosure pillars are Governance, Strategy, Risk and Impact Management, and Metrics and Targets. These pillars structure how organizations report on nature-related issues. They are separate from the four LEAP phases (Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare), which are the assessment methodology used to generate the data that feeds into those disclosures.
What does LEAP stand for?
LEAP stands for Locate (map your interface with nature), Evaluate (assess dependencies and impacts on ecosystems), Assess (identify nature-related risks and opportunities), and Prepare (develop strategy, set targets, and prepare disclosures). Each phase contains four sub-components, labeled L1 through L4, E1 through E4, A1 through A4, and P1 through P4.
Is the TNFD mandatory?
The TNFD is currently a voluntary framework. However, it is increasingly referenced by regulators. France requires large companies to report against TNFD-aligned metrics, Japan’s Financial Services Agency recommends TNFD adoption, and CDP has incorporated TNFD-aligned questions into its 2025 questionnaire. Organizations preparing for future mandatory requirements often start with voluntary adoption.
How long does a LEAP assessment take?
The timeline varies significantly by organization size and data readiness. Pilot testers during the TNFD’s development phase ranged from weeks to several months for their first assessment. LEAP is designed as an iterative process, so most organizations start with their highest-risk locations and expand scope over subsequent cycles rather than attempting full coverage in the first pass.
What tools can help with the LEAP Locate phase?
Several tools support the Locate phase. IBAT (Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool) provides Key Biodiversity Area and protected area proximity data. ENCORE maps ecosystem service dependencies by industry. WRI Aqueduct provides basin-level water stress scores. Satellite-based land cover platforms classify biomes and detect land use change at any coordinate. Most organizations combine multiple tools to cover the full scope of L1 through L4.
Conclusion
The TNFD LEAP approach gives organizations a structured path from raw geographic data to disclosure-ready nature risk reporting. Each phase builds on the previous one, and the entire process is designed to be repeated as data improves and scope expands. Start with the Locate phase and build a solid geographic data foundation. The rest of the LEAP assessment flows from knowing exactly where your operations interface with nature.
