A-Track is a four-year, €11 million project that will accelerate business, finance, and government action for nature. Businesses, financial institutions and governments across Europe are increasingly recognising that they depend on nature and that action for nature can help them to build resilience, manage risks and increase value.
Over the last decade, new guidance, tools, methods, data and training materials have been developed to support measuring impacts and dependencies on nature and integrating this knowledge into decision-making. Despite increasing commitments to change, nature is still in crisis and there is an urgent need to further accelerate action for nature. The European Green Deal and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework have established a clear policy context for this acceleration, with key actions for business, finance and government.
Yet, organisations often struggle to navigate the complexities of nature and the related risks and opportunities. Understanding what tools to use or what actions should be taken can be overwhelming.
Through A-Track, existing tools and approaches will be brought together and developed further. A-Track will make it easier for organisations to identify the most appropriate way forward for their sector and scale, to unlock the most relevant natural capital and biodiversity information for a range of applications and ultimately make more informed decisions that accelerate action for nature positive outcomes.
The project creates robust and reliable resources tailored to the needs of key decision-makers that:
- Support the flows of biodiversity information for use in business, finance and government decisions.
- Strengthen consideration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in life cycle assessment for products and organisations.
- Mainstream and advance natural capital assessment and accounting across society.
- Facilitate the adoption and scaling of business models that contribute to nature-positive outcomes.
- Nurture financial innovations that contribute to nature-positive outcomes.
A-Track brings together leading thought leaders and practitioners who have been driving change in the measurement and valuation of natural capital and biodiversity in business, finance and government. Partners have led the development or implementation of guidelines and standards for measurement of nature impacts and dependencies for improved decision-making, including: biodiversity footprinting, natural capital assessment and accounting, and business models and finance that contribute to nature positive outcomes.
The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme with co-funding from UK Research and Innovation and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Together with Capitals Coalition, the A-Track partners are VITO, UNEP-WCMC, Tecnalia, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Oppla, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, University of Stuttgart and IDEEA Global.
Find more information and updates on the project here
