European businesses, financial institutions, and governments increasingly acknowledge their dependence on nature and that action for nature can help them build resilience, manage risks, and increase value. However, despite these growing commitments to change, nature is still in crisis, and there is an urgent need to accelerate further action.
The Capitals Coalition is excited to announce its participation in A-Track, a new Horizon EU project that aims to accelerate action for nature that needs to be taken by businesses, financial institutions, and governments.
A-Track (Accelerating Transformation through Capitals Knowledge) is a four-year project that will see the Coalition working alongside experts and leaders who have been driving change in measuring and valuing natural capital and biodiversity.
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. The European Green Deal and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework have established a clear policy context for the acceleration needed, with key actions for business, finance and government.
Yet, organisations often struggle to navigate the complexities of nature and the related risks and opportunities.
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.
A-Track will create 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 to support businesses, financial institutions, and governments in considering impacts and dependencies on natural capital and associated risks and opportunities. Partners have led to the development or implementation guidelines and standards for measuring 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 A-Track team aims to develop practical tools and resources that address concrete business needs and challenges. Complete a short project survey to shape and gain access to project outputs such as training materials, guides, and case studies.
Ultimately, A-Track aims to support nature-positive outcomes, the European Green Deal and worldwide action under the Global Biodiversity Framework, accelerating the conservation and restoration of nature.
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. The eleven A-Track partners are: Capitals Coalition, 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.
