What is the TNFD LEAP approach?

LEAP stands for Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare. It is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures recommended process for organisations to identify and assess their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities before disclosing them.

What is the difference between a dependency and an impact?

A dependency is how much your activity relies on nature to function, such as needing fresh water or pollination. An impact is how your activity changes nature, such as converting land or discharging pollutants. Both create financial risk and both must be screened.

Why does location matter so much?

The same activity can be low-risk in one place and high-risk in another. Operating in or near a protected area, a water-stressed basin, or a biodiversity hotspot sharply raises the materiality of any dependency or impact, which is why Locate is the first LEAP step.

What are ecosystem services?

Ecosystem services are the benefits nature provides that businesses rely on — provisioning services like water and timber, regulating services like flood control and pollination, and supporting services like soil formation. Losing them creates operational and financial risk.

Does a high score require disclosure?

A high materiality rating flags an activity for detailed TNFD assessment and likely disclosure, but the formal requirement depends on your reporting framework and jurisdiction. Use the rating to prioritise where to spend assessment effort, then confirm disclosure obligations with your advisers.

Nature-Positive Risk Screener (TNFD)

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) asks organisations to understand how their activities depend on and impact nature. This screener runs a simplified LEAP assessment for a single business activity, combining location sensitivity, ecosystem-service dependency, and environmental impact into a materiality rating that tells you whether the activity needs full TNFD assessment.

How it works

The LEAP approach — Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare — is condensed into a weighted screen. Location sensitivity amplifies both dependency and impact, because the same activity is far riskier in a sensitive place:

dependency score = mean of ecosystem-service dependency ratings (0–3)
impact score     = mean of nature-impact ratings (0–3)
location factor  = 1.0 (low) · 1.3 (moderate) · 1.6 (high sensitivity)
materiality      = (dependency + impact) / 2 × location factor
rating           = Low · Medium · High · Priority

A Priority rating means the activity should move into detailed evaluation and likely TNFD disclosure; a Low rating can be documented and deprioritised.

Tips and notes

The most commonly underestimated risk is dependency, not impact — businesses track their pollution but rarely quantify how much they rely on free ecosystem services like reliable water, stable climate, or pollination. If an activity sits in a water-stressed basin and depends heavily on water, its materiality will be high even with modest direct impact. Use the priority list to focus your detailed TNFD work where location, dependency, and impact reinforce each other, and confirm formal disclosure obligations with your reporting advisers.