Natural Capital: A New Role for the Private Sector in Fighting Climate Change

January 16, 2017 |

This article is part of BritishAmerican Business‘s December 2016 edition.

“One of the most exciting aspects of advising the world’s largest companies on their sustainability strategies, is the insights that this provides into how they are responding to some of the most challenging issues that we face in the twenty-first century.

A business’s relationship with the natural capital that ultimately enables it to exist, is one such critical issue. Some of the issues our clients are considering here include: How does natural capital impact decision making? Is there a hidden risk to my business? Do my investors care? Will this factor into future regulation?

These types of questions frame the discussions we regularly have around this issue, whether with the C-suite Executive in the Boardroom, or a Biodiversity Analyst in the field. However, these conversations tend to be with the minority of companies, those that have already grasped the significance of the issue.

While overall awareness and understanding of natural capital valuation is still fairly nascent, the dialogue is gaining momentum through the Natural Capital Coalition. With the launch of the Natural Capital Protocol, we expect a new wave of companies to join the conversation, and account for their relationships with natural capital…”

Access the report at: BritishAmerican Business.

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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).