Climate change concerns have dominated ESG thinking, but awareness on nature risk is fast catching on. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half or $44 trillion of global economic value generation is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Despite this, nature faces the challenges of mass extinction rates and increased pressure on land, water, oceans, climate, and biodiversity to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. About 25% of our assessed plant and animal species are threatened by human actions, with a million species facing extinction, many within decades.
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)
Ayala Corporation is monitoring the development of the first nature-related risk- management and disclosure framework from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The TNFD framework signals an important step by the market to tackle the risk of nature-loss to the global economy through incorporating nature- related risk and opportunity analysis into corporate and financial decision-making.
We continue to study the progress of the TNFD framework and look forward to adapting the framework for managing nature risks within the Ayala Group upon the release of its final recommendations in late 2023.

The Rofous Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone cinnamomea) is among the bird species to be protected by Project Kasibulan in Oriental Mindoro.
Ayala Corporation’s Project Kasibulan: The Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Program
Our country has approximately 7.2 million hectares of natural forest remaining, which are home to more than 50,000 species of plants and animals, half of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Protecting and restoring these forests can deliver up to 30 percent of the global climate solution by 2030, and curb growing biodiversity and nature loss in the Philippines. To help curb growing biodiversity and nature loss, Ayala embarked on Project Kasibulan, a group-wide forest and biodiversity conservation program aimed at preserving and enhancing the remaining high conservation value forests in Oriental Mindoro.
Estimated to cover over 32,000 hectares and with a project lifetime of 30 years, Project Kasibulan is slated to be the first project of its scale and impact in the Philippines.
In 2021, the project was able to meet several milestones, first of which was the completion of the carbon stock assessment of its project accounting area. This resulted in the substantial completion of the Project Design Document following stringent the Verified Carbon Standard requirements of VERRA.

Project Kasibulan works with local stakeholders to ensure the long-term protection and survival of the forests of Puerto Galera and San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro.
Additionally, Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards will be applied to Project Kasibulan. The CCB Standards promote excellence and innovation from the earliest stages of project design and development through implementation, ensuring the full participation of stakeholders, respect of customary and statutory rights including free, prior, and informed consent and demonstrate net positive climate, community, and biodiversity benefits.
Project Kasibulan continues to engage local governments, communities, and the indigenous people of Oriental Mindoro to ensure the long-term protection and survival of its forests and their biodiversity. The program considers the economic needs of the communities that depend on the forest for resources and livelihood and shall implement a payment for ecosystem services (PES) arrangement to decrease the unsustainable use of natural resources in Oriental Mindoro. PES will be adopted as one of the long-term sustainable interventions in the area following the UNFCCC’s framework for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).
In doing all of these, Project Kasibulan fosters both climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development in Oriental Mindoro.
The more we discuss climate change, the clearer we see how it is intrinsically linked to biodiversity. Ayala Corporation is proactively exploring solutions that demonstrate our commitment to addressing both. This will allow us to meet our Climate Ambition and address nature and biodiversity loss through frameworks such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.