Integrating Natural Capital Into Business Practice

December 05, 2016 |

This report is a product of VNO-NCW and IUCN The Netherlands.

“Companies that want insight into their relationship with natural capital are increasingly using the Natural Capital Protocol. Over a short period, this Protocol has become an indispensable tool for the clarification, measurement and evaluation of this relationship.

The Protocol consists of nine steps a company should take when assessing its impact and dependence on natural capital. The objective is to enable companies to assess their direct and indirect interactions with natural capital, to allow better management and participation in business decisions. The NCP is applicable in all sectors. The Protocol was established earlier this year, following an international process with the participation of companies, governments, research institutes and NGOs. The editors did not want to develop yet another new instrument, says Mark Gough, director of the Natural Capital Coalition. “The NCP harmonizes existing approaches and systems.” According to Gough, the strong point of the NCP is that it helps companies make better decisions. “Most managers want to leave the world a better place, but they have to work with standards and systems that are difficult to compare, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and ISO standards. The NCP can help them with this”.

“…Coenraad Krijger, Director of IUCN The Netherlands, wants much more. “In the coming period, consideration of natural capital needs to move from the CSR managers to the boardrooms.” Like Oudshoorn he is convinced of the importance of the Natural Capital Protocol presented last year. Krijger calls it “a potential game changer.” Oudshoorn agrees with this. “Companies need to know the facts about their own environmental footprints. The Protocol makes this possible, and companies can now take action on that basis. We will recommend this to our members, and it should be done internationally as well. The Natural Capital Protocol should become a European Agreement.””

Download the report here.

Related articles

Integrated Capitals

The Coalition’s Hiring for a Finance Officer

March 7, 2023 | Featured, Organisation

Integrated Capitals, Natural Capital

New Online Business Training Course on Social and Human Capital to Launch

February 21, 2023 | Business, Decision Making, Social & Human Capital

Integrated Capitals, Natural Capital

ACT-D Case Studies Demonstrating Business Action for Nature

January 19, 2023 | Business, Decision Making, Natural Capital

Natural Capital

Historic Framework Adopted At COP15 To Halt & Reverse The Loss Of Nature By 2030

December 19, 2022 | Enabling Environment, Measure & Value, Nature

Natural Capital

Nature Positive Economies: Progress, Lessons & Next Frontiers Report Published

December 12, 2022 | Enabling Environment, Measure & Value, Nature

New CEO Briefing on Measuring Nature-positive Business Actions

December 6, 2022 | Biodiversity, Measure & Value

Nature is Trapped Within A Cage of Brackets, Will Leaders At COP15 Find the Strength to Break Them?

November 28, 2022 | Biodiversity, Impacts & Dependencies, Livelihoods, Measure & Value, Nature Loss

Integrated Capitals, Natural Capital

Capitals Coalition COP15 Schedule of Events

November 21, 2022 | Organisation

Natural Capital

More Than 330 Businesses Call on Heads of State to Make Nature Assessment and Disclosure Mandatory at COP15

October 26, 2022 | Business, Decision Making, Measure & Value

Integrated Capitals

Capitals Coalition Announces Joining of SELINA and SUSTAIN EU Projects

October 25, 2022 | Data, Decision Making, Measure & Value

Integrated Capitals

Announcing the Capitals Coalition’s Global Dialogues 2022 Agenda

October 7, 2022 | Organisation

New Biodiversity Commitments Announced as World Leaders Declare Nature Summit COP15 as a Priority

September 21, 2022

Benefit from the Coalition’s unique overview of the capitals approach and community, gain insights into the latest thinking and developments and receive newsletters and project updates.

Introduction from Carl Obst (2017)

Victor Hugo once wrote that “Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come”. Recognising the true value of natural capital, is one such idea. Across private and public sectors, across disciplines, and around the world, initiatives to advance and develop natural capital thinking have emerged rapidly over the past 10 years.

In a blizzard of acronyms, we have the NCC, SEEA, WAVES, IIRC, KIP-INCA, A4S, GRI, EO4EA – among many others. Are they the same, are they competing, are they useful? To both insiders and outsiders this range of initiatives is confusing at best. At worst, it leads to a lack of engagement, avoidance and misunderstanding.

The reality is that, while differences among these various initiatives do exist, they have all been motivated by a common understanding of the reality that we are losing our stocks of natural capital – and that this matters.

While each initiative may have different origins, some differing objectives, and may reflect variations in technique and method, there is much common ground. Indeed, to engage the broader community in tackling the natural capital challenges we collectively face, we cannot afford to focus on distinctions. Instead, we must look to build on the overlaps and seek to build a common language that will enable the exchange of ideas and ongoing innovation.

It is in this spirit of collaboration that the Natural Capital Coalition, together with the IDEEA Group and supported by over 20 organisations, launches this statement on Combining Forces on Natural Capital.

It is especially relevant that this statement of collaboration is launched at the World Forum on Natural Capital, where leading voices in the movement gather every two years, to share best practice, enduring challenges and build further collaborations.

While progress to date has largely taken place in small pockets, in order to move forward we need to ramp up our efforts and move beyond talking with supporters and “the converted”.

For this, we need leaders who can establish spaces for dialogue and development, and who can ensure that technical debates do not form a barrier to progress, that we take full advantage of the diversity of skills and experience already engaged, and that the big picture is always kept in mind.

I encourage you to take the opportunity to read the statement, to share it within your organisations, to sign on, and to join us as we move towards a better understanding and appreciation of the complex and beautiful world in which we live.

Carl Obst is Director of the Institute for the Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting (IDEEA Group), and Lead Author of the United Nation’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (UN SEEA).